Wichita Falls, Texas Weather & Climate: Records, Extremes, and What to Expect Year-Round

TL;DR

• Wichita Falls holds a genuinely extreme climate resume: an all-time record high of 117°F (June 28, 1980) and an all-time record low of −12°F (January 4, 1947), within a humid subtropical climate that produces long, brutally hot summers and short, sharply variable winters.
• The city’s two defining weather chapters are the 1980 heat wave (79 days of 100°F+, the old statewide benchmark) and the 2011 drought summer, when Wichita Falls became the first Texas city ever to record 100 days of 100°F+ in a single year — plus its worst disaster, the April 10, 1979 “Terrible Tuesday” F4 tornado that killed 42 people in the city.
• Widely circulated “114°F / June 17, 2011” and “August 12, 1936 / 114°F” figures are WRONG for Wichita Falls, Texas — they belong to the NWS Wichita, KANSAS office (weather.gov/ict). The authoritative office for Wichita Falls, TX is NWS Norman, Oklahoma (weather.gov/oun).

Key Findings

• All-time record high: 117°F on June 28, 1980 — confirmed by the NOAA station record for Wichita Falls Municipal Airport (station USW00013966), Wikipedia’s NOAA climate table, ExtremeWeatherWatch (NOAA data, 1897–present), and NWS Norman event pages.
• All-time record low: −12°F on January 4, 1947 — confirmed by the same authoritative sources. This resolves a major sourcing pitfall.
• 2011: 100 days of 100°F+, the first Texas city to reach that mark, breaking its own 1980 record of 79 days.
• Climate type: humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa), with semi-arid and continental tendencies; roughly 28 inches of rain and about 3 inches of snow per year (NOAA 1991–2020 normals).
• Wichita Falls sits in Tornado Alley and has been struck by two violent tornadoes: an F5 on April 3, 1964 (“Black Friday”) and the F4 on April 10, 1979 (“Terrible Tuesday”).

Details

1. All-time temperature records — and resolving the discrepancies

The single most important thing for wichitafalls.us to get right: the authoritative all-time record high for Wichita Falls, Texas is 117°F, set on June 28, 1980, and the all-time record low is −12°F, set on January 4, 1947. Both figures are confirmed by the NOAA station record for Wichita Falls Municipal Airport (station USW00013966) and reproduced on Wikipedia and ExtremeWeatherWatch (NOAA data). extremeweatherwatch

Why other numbers are circulating — and why they’re wrong for this city:

• “114°F on June 17, 2011,” “August 12, 1936 / 114°F,” and “−22°F on February 12, 1899” all come from the National Weather Service office in Wichita, KANSAS (weather.gov/ict), whose all-time records table literally reads “Record Warmest High 114°F August 12, 1936” and “Record Coolest Low −22°F February 12, 1899.” These are Wichita, Kansas records, not Wichita Falls, Texas. Automated weather widgets frequently confuse the two similarly named cities. Wichita Falls, TX is served by NWS Norman, Oklahoma. NBC News
• February 2021 (Winter Storm Uri) was bitterly cold but did NOT set the all-time record. Wichita Falls dropped to roughly −8°F in February 2021 — cold, but still warmer than the −12°F of January 1947.
• Some travel-climate sites list “−8°F in 1989” or “−9.5°F in January 1947” (the latter a Celsius-conversion artifact of the same 1947 event). The correct, official figure is −12°F on January 4, 1947. PartyShopMaine

The 1980 heat was not a single freak day: June 28, 1980’s 117°F sat in the middle of a 10-day stretch (June 24–July 3, 1980) with highs at or above 110°F. Of the top 10 hottest days in Wichita Falls history, seven occurred in the summer of 1980. Texoma Homepage

2. The 1980 Texas heat wave

The summer of 1980 was the benchmark against which all Texas heat waves were measured until 2011. A massive high-pressure ridge parked over the southern Plains in late June 1980. In Wichita Falls, the high reached 110°F or more every day from June 24 through July 3, peaking at 117°F on June 28 — the highest temperature ever recorded in the city. By season’s end, Wichita Falls had logged 79 days of 100°F+. EBSCOClimates to Travel

For state context: the all-time Texas record high is 120°F. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as reported by KXAN Austin, “the hottest maximum temperature ever recorded in Texas happened twice: First on August 12, 1936, in Seymour, northwest of Dallas, and again on June 28, 1994, in Monahans” (Fort Worth also tied 120°F on August 12, 1936). Seymour is roughly 50 miles southwest of Wichita Falls. So while Wichita Falls’ 117°F ranks among the hottest readings ever taken in Texas, it sits 3°F below the state record. (Note: some secondary sources swap the Seymour/Monahans dates; the NOAA-sourced pairing is Seymour on August 12, 1936 and Monahans on June 28, 1994.)

3. The 2011 “100 days of 100 degrees”

2011 is the defining modern heat/drought year. Amid what Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon of Texas A&M University called “the most severe one-year drought on record,” Wichita Falls became the first Texas city ever to record 100 days of 100°F+ in a single calendar year. It broke its own 1980 record of 79 days. As NWS meteorologist Victor Murphy told CBS and NBC News at the time, “When you consider the previous record was 79 and that was considered the monster of all summers, to exceed that by … [25 percent] is pretty astounding.” CBS News

The first 100°F day arrived unusually early, on April 6, 2011. According to the Associated Press (September 14, 2011), “Wichita Falls became the first Texas city to have 100 days of triple-digit temperatures in one year Tuesday, the same day the Dallas-Fort Worth area joined the state’s long list of cities with a record number of 100-degree days” — DFW hitting its 70th triple-digit day and breaking the 1980 mark of 69. Statewide, per the National Climatic Data Center, August 2011 was the hottest month in Texas history, with a statewide average of 88.1°F, and Texas recorded the hottest summer of any U.S. state on record that year. The drought that fueled 2011 persisted through 2015, dropping Wichita Falls’ reservoirs to below 20% of capacity at its worst. 106.3 The BuzzFencingwichitafallstx

4. General climate overview

Wichita Falls has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with strong semi-arid and continental influences given its inland position on the southern Great Plains, about 15 miles south of the Oklahoma border. The city experiences long, very hot summers and short but volatile winters, with large day-to-night temperature swings driven by frequent clashes of air masses. Weather U.S.Climates to Travel

Using NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Wichita Falls Regional Airport (station USW00013966):

• Annual average precipitation: about 28 inches (27.89 in). Localweatherradarnoaa
• Annual average snowfall: about 3 inches (3.1 in).
• Warmest month: July — normal high 97.2°F, normal low 72.2°F (monthly mean 84.7°F).
• Coldest month: January — normal high 54.7°F, normal low 30.0°F (monthly mean 42.4°F).
• Annual mean temperature: about 64°F (63.7°F).
• The wettest month is May (roughly 3.4–4 inches), and the spring storm season (May–June) delivers most of the year’s rain. Winter is the driest season. My Perfect Weather + 2

5. Record lows and notable winter weather

The all-time record low is −12°F (January 4, 1947). Winter in Wichita Falls is defined by volatility — mild spells in the 70s can be followed within a day by hard freezes. Notable cold events include:

• February 2021 (Winter Storm Uri): one of the most damaging winter events in modern Texas history, crippling the state’s power grid. Wichita Falls fell to roughly −8°F in mid-February 2021 — near-record but short of the 1947 all-time low. Wikipedia
• December 2022: an Arctic blast brought single-digit lows and dangerously low wind chills around the December 22–23 holiday period.
• January 2024: three consecutive days in the single digits, each a daily record, per local recap reporting. Texoma’s News & Weather
• Snowfall is light and episodic, averaging around 3 inches annually and typically falling January through March.

6. Severe weather — Tornado Alley

Wichita Falls is squarely in Tornado Alley, with peak tornado season April through June and a secondary uptick in the fall. Wichita Falls

• April 10, 1979 — “Terrible Tuesday”: An F4 tornado up to 1.5 miles wide cut a path through southern Wichita Falls, part of the Red River Valley outbreak. Per the NWS Norman event page and the Wichita Falls Times Record News, it “killed 42 people in the city, 25 of whom were caught in their vehicles and 16 of whom had left their homes to avoid the tornado,” and injured 1,740 others. It left roughly 20,000 homeless and caused “an estimated $400,000,000 (in 1979 dollars)” in property damage — a U.S. record for a single tornado at the time (equivalent to about $2.2 billion today). Winds were estimated near 225 mph and the tornado tracked 47 miles before dissipating near Waurika, Oklahoma. Golf-ball-sized hail preceded the touchdown. Wikipedia
• April 3, 1964 — “Black Friday”: An F5 tornado — the only F5 on record to strike Wichita Falls — hit the north/northwest side and Sheppard Air Force Base, killing 7, injuring more than 100, destroying about 225 homes, and causing roughly $15 million in damage. It was among the first tornadoes ever broadcast live on television (by local station KAUZ-TV). Grokipedia
• The broader region has recorded well over 100 tornadoes within 25 miles of the city since 1950, including multiple violent (EF3+/F4+) events, along with recurring large hail and damaging thunderstorm winds. Late afternoon and early evening are the peak hours for tornado touchdowns.

7. Monthly and seasonal averages (general-audience snapshot)

• Winter (Dec–Feb): highs in the 50s, lows around freezing (January low ~30°F); driest season; light, occasional snow.
• Spring (Mar–May): rapid warming, peak rainfall (May is wettest), and peak severe-weather/tornado risk.
• Summer (Jun–Aug): highs in the mid-90s and frequently 100°F+; July/August lows in the low-to-mid 70s. The city averages roughly 28–30 days a year at or above 100°F.
• Fall (Sep–Nov): warm early, cooling through November; a secondary minor severe-weather season.

8. Other notable extreme events

• Wettest month on record: May 2015, with 17.00 inches of rain — the wettest calendar month ever recorded in the city, per the National Weather Service in Norman — which helped end the 2010–2015 drought and caused local flooding. The previous monthly record was 13.22 inches in May 1982.
• Wettest year on record: 2015, at about 47–50 inches (NOAA lists 47.4 inches; local outlets have reported ~50.5 inches).
• 2010–2015 drought: the most severe in the city’s modern history, dropping combined reservoir levels to below 20% and prompting stringent water restrictions. 106.3 The BuzzFencingwichitafallstx
• The 1950s drought was a multi-year regional event still remembered as devastating.

9. Recent events (2023–2026)

• 2023–2024: Wichita Falls re-entered Stage 1 drought restrictions in January 2023 as lake levels fell; conditions eased later in the period. News Channel 6
• 2024: characterized by consistent warmth rather than record heat — October 2024 set a record with 20 days reaching 90°F (old record 16). A sharp mid-January 2024 cold snap produced three consecutive single-digit days, each a daily record. Texoma’s News & Weather
• 2025: a notably mild summer — Wichita Falls had not reached 100°F as of early May 2025, and the last prior 100°F day was September 21, 2024. A mid-February 2025 Arctic front (arriving February 18) brought the coldest wind chills of the year, with lows below 10°F.

Recommendations

For the wichitafalls.us article, I recommend:

1. Lead with the corrected, authoritative records — 117°F (June 28, 1980) and −12°F (January 4, 1947) — and explicitly attribute them to NWS Norman/NOAA. Add a short call-out debunking the “114°F/1936” figure as a Wichita, Kansas mix-up; this is both accurate and SEO-valuable because many competitors get it wrong, and it positions the page as authoritative.
2. Build the narrative around the two marquee stories — the 1980 vs. 2011 heat records, and the 1979 vs. 1964 tornadoes. These are the highest-interest, most-searched topics and make natural section headers.
3. Include a clean monthly-averages table using NOAA 1991–2020 normals for internal consistency; do not mix normals periods within the same table.
4. Flag the remaining source conflicts (wettest-year 47.4 vs. 50.5 inches; snowfall ~3 vs. ~4 inches) with a single authoritative choice (NOAA) and a brief footnote, rather than silently picking one.
5. Set update benchmarks: refresh the records section if a future summer approaches 79–100 days of 100°F, or if a reading nears 117°F or −12°F. Update the “recent events” section annually.

Caveats

 

• City confusion is the biggest risk: many aggregator sites blend Wichita Falls, TX data with Wichita, KS data. Always verify against NWS Norman (weather.gov/oun) or NOAA station USW00013966 — never the weather.gov/ict (Wichita, Kansas) page.
• Normals periods differ: figures vary slightly (annual precip 27.89 in NOAA 1991–2020 vs. ~30 in on some sites; snow ~3 vs. ~4 in) depending on whether a source uses 1991–2020 normals, older normals, or full period of record. The values above use the current NOAA 1991–2020 normals where possible.
• Station moves and record length: the NOAA period of record spans roughly 1897–present, but instrumentation and station relocations can introduce minor inconsistencies in older extremes.
• A few dates (the exact 2011 “100th day,” the Seymour/Monahans state-record dates) vary slightly between secondary sources; the values above reflect the most consistent and best-attributed reporting.