Ward County, TX Environment & Hazard Risk

• WildfireRelatively Low$182K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 681 years
• HailRelatively Low$371K/yr expected annual loss, about 2.6 events a year
• Strong windRelatively Moderate$503K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 1 year
• DroughtRelatively Low$175K/yr expected annual loss, about 74 events a year
• Winter weatherRelatively Low$58.01K/yr expected annual loss, about 4.3 events a year
• Heat waveRelatively Low$150K/yr expected annual loss, about 5.5 events a year
• LightningRelatively Low$93.94K/yr expected annual loss, about 44 events a year
• Ice stormRelatively Low$29.7K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 3 years
• TornadoRelatively Low$275K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 4 years
• EarthquakeVery Low$21.72K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 2,257 years
• HurricaneVery Low$4,522/yr expected annual loss, about once every 189 years
• Cold waveVery Low$137K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 2 years
• LandslideVery Low$0/yr expected annual loss, about once every 20 years

Bars show the national percentile score (0 to 100) for each hazard. Dollar figures are expected annual losses to buildings, people and crops. Not rated here: avalanche, coastal flooding, riverine flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity.

Check the flood zone for an address

Homes with flood insurance

3 of 4,910 (0.1%)

Homes in high-risk flood zones

0

• Hail90
• Thunderstorm Wind44
• Flash Flood18
• Drought16
• High Wind10
• Heavy Snow4
• Lightning4
• Ice Storm3
• Tornado3
• Winter Weather2

• Lightning06/08/1997

  Grandfalls, Ward County

  1 injured

  What happened

  A 16 year old male received an indirect lightning strike. He was taken to Ward Memorial Hospital in Monahans and transferred to Odessa Medical Center for testing, and was released late that night. The boy and his mother were walking across their porch leaving the house when lightning struck a metal pipe along the side of the house. The boy was struck in the head by a glancing blow from the bolt, knocked to the ground, but sustained no burns. He was dazed but never lost consciousness; he said he remembered feeling the shock as the bolt went through his body. They said the lightning came seemingly from nowhere as all the previous thunder had seemed quite distant. Light rain was falling at the time of the incident.

• Drought08/01/1996

  Ward

  $680K damage

  What happened

  Toward the latter part of August plentiful rains were at last falling over all of the area. This pattern was started by the tropical plume that brought Hurricane Dolly westward through the Bay of Campeche to near Tampico, Mexico, across the Central America to where she dissipated in the eastern North Pacific. Although Dolly was over 1000 miles south of the area, this same plume of deep, tropical moisture locked over Southwest Texas and rained over much of the area on a daily basis through the end of the month.Since a drought is a very loosely defined phenomenon, there is no explicit beginning or end, but for the purposes of Storm Data there is no room for flexibility--only qualifications that can be made in this narrative. The effects in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico were mainly in the form of crop damage due to the dry weather. Those farms that were able to plant crops late in the season were able to grow crops successfully. With the threat to crops ending in August and the Eastern Pacific cold phase waning, it was felt that a definite trend away from the drought had begun. Many people would argue that the drought lasted through the end of 1996 as four years of...

• TornadoF0, 1 mi path, 250 yd wide03/22/2000

  Wickett, Ward County

  $300K damage

  What happened

  A supercell storm moving to the northeast spawned a weak tornado that moved straight north through the heart of Wickett. With the weak nature of the tornado and lack of targets outside of the city, the exact starting and ending points of the tornado could not be determined.Damage included one abandoned mobile home that was overturned and destroyed, several carports and other low-grade roofs dislodged, and utility poles/lines downed. With little structural damage to any substantial dwellings, this tornado was rated in the high end of the F0 category. Vectors into the center of the damage converged at a 90 degree angle.This mesocyclone quickly occluded after exiting Wickett, with the following mesocyclone producing another weak tornado in western Ector County.

• Thunderstorm Wind70 kt wind06/27/2021

  Monahans, Ward County

  $200K damage

• Flash Flood07/16/2026

  Monahans, Ward County

• Thunderstorm Wind65 kt wind06/26/2026

  Pyote, Ward County

  $95K damage

• Flash Flood06/19/2026

  Monahans, Ward County

• Hail0.88" hail05/27/2026

  Monahans, Ward County

• Thunderstorm Wind52 kt wind05/15/2026

  Monahans, Ward County

• High Wind52 kt wind03/10/2026

  Ward

• Hail1" hail02/14/2026

  Monahans, Ward County

• Thunderstorm Wind52 kt wind11/20/2025

  Pyote Wilson Arpt, Ward County

• City of MonahansServes 6,953 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations+3 monitoring or reporting
• Southwest Sandhills WscServes 2,354 · Purchased groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• City of WickettServes 567 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations+2 monitoring or reporting
• City of GrandfallsServes 395 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations+11 monitoring or reporting
• City of BarstowServes 198 · Purchased groundwater · Local government1 health violation+14 monitoring or reporting
• City of PyoteServes 131 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations+1 monitoring or reporting