Bel Aire

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Sedgwick County, the county that contains Bel Aire.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Sedgwick County, the county that contains Bel Aire.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Sedgwick County, the county that contains Bel Aire.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 14, 2012Tornado$500 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant damage to homes, many of them had a number missing outer walls. Seven homes were missing two to four walls, one home was completely destroyed. The trees associated with house completely stripped to nothing, this was also the case at many other locations along the path. ||A mobile home park to south had seventy five percent of the homes uninhabitable. Approximately twenty five percent were reduced to rubble. ||Significant damage was also noted at McConnell AFB. Many of the hangars sustained damage. One hangar in particular that was owned by Spirit Aerosystems sustained a considerable amount of damage.||Several apartments and businesses also had damage like roofs being…

2. Sep 15, 2010Hail$150 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two supercell thunderstorms left a destructive swath of very large hail across portions of the county. The swath of hail was approximately 5 miles wide and 15 miles long, stretching from northwest of Goddard, Kansas through the western and southern half of Wichita, Kansas to near Rose Hill, Kansas. Hail as large as softball and grapefruit size pounded roofs and cars along its path with over 35,000 claims turned into insurance agencies. The hail made roofs look like a war zone, with holes big enough for people to stick their heads through. Cars and golf courses were pot marked with large dents. Some of the hail came through roofs, including the terminal at the Mid Continent Airport…

3. May 3, 1999Tornado$140 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same tornado that initially touched down 4 miles north of Wellington in Central Sumner County, SKYWARN reports indicate the tornado crossed the Sumner/Sedgwick County line at 1930, 1 mile west of Peck. Moving northeast at 30 kts, the tornado hit Haysville at 1935, destroying a subdivision just southwest of the South Seneca-South 87th Street intersection where the first 2 fatalities occurred in a mobile home park when a woman and her grandson were killed while running for shelter. (A 6th fatality resulted when an elderly man died from his injuries at a Wichita hospital on May 23rd.) The tornado then moved north along South Seneca Avenue, entering the Haysville Central Business…

4. Apr 24, 2006Hail$70.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An early morning severe thunderstorm pounded western and central portions of Sedgwick County with destructive hail as large as 3 inches in diameter between roughly 6:10 and 6:30 AM CST. Several instances of 1.75 to 3 inch hail occurred from Goddard into western and central portions of Wichita, generally between 13th and Kellogg, and into the downtown area. Another area of large hail around 1.75 inches in diameter affected northern and northeast portions of Wichita, generally east of I-135 along K96. Surrounding the very large hail area were numerous reports of 0.75 to 1.25 inch hail, affecting portions of South, North, and East Wichita. The large hail inflicted widespread property…

5. Jul 8, 2009Hail$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large Hail ranging in size from golf ball to baseball sized moved across Downtown Wichita, causing devastating damage to cars and roofs. During the half hour hail storm, thousands of cars either had roof, windshield or hood damage. Insurance agencies reported 10 to 15 thousand cars may have damaged by the hail storm. The hail was so large and numerous that it killed numerous birds in the Delano district, and injured fans at Lawrence Dumont Stadium as the hail turned the minor league baseball field white. Stain glassed windows were destroyed at Friends University and hundreds of homes and businesses received roof and window damage.

6. Apr 29, 2022Tornado$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A highly visible tornado that came to be known as the Andover Tornado initially touched down in rural Sedgwick county and tracked to the east northeast into Butler county, Kansas. Two direct injuries occurred, when a manufactured home was completely destroyed, with two occupants inside. Two people were transported to local hospitals with serious injuries. Total structures affected were 116, with 22 of those being homes. The rest of the structures affected were barns, sheds, detached garages, etc. This tornado crossed the county line into Butler County. Damage were estimated at 4.5 million dollars.

7. Nov 1, 1998Flood, Sedgwick$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread heavy rains of 6-10 inches inundated South-Central and Southeast Kansas from the evening of October 30th thru November 1st while 4-8 inches drenched Central Kansas. As a result, record flooding occurred along the following rivers:Whitewater River: At Towanda: crest: 30.53 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 29.73 feet on 06/08/79). At Augusta: crest: 34.95 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 32.70 feet on 06/08/79).Arkansas River: At Derby: crest: 16.60 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 16.19 feet on 07/15/93). At Arkansas City, 28.89 feet on 11/03/98. (Old record: 27.62 feet on 05/11/93).Walnut River: At Arkansas City: crest: 32.45 feet on 11/03/98. (Old record: 29.22 feet on…

8. Sep 12, 2008Flash Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nine to twelve inches of rainfall during the morning commute hours causing widespread street flooding of roadways up to 2 to 3 feet deep on the West side of the City of Wichita. Law enforcement officials reported 150 people were rescued from vehicles or evacuated because of the high water. 114 homes reported some type of surface flooding due to the heavy rainfall and sewers and sump pumps backed up into 141 more homes. This unprecedented amount of rainfall mainly fell during a five hour period, reminding some of the Halloween Flood of 1998. The large amount of rainfall caused the Cowskin/Calfskin Creek to once again come out of its banks, flooding homes in the Dells and Hidden…

9. Jun 9, 2011Hail$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to golfball size pelted portions of west and northwest Wichita. Consequently, various roofs and vehicles likely sustained hail damage, but the exact number is unknown. Consequently, property damage amounts are rough estimates.

10. Jul 10, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$3.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Severe thunderstorm winds, ranging from 52-80KT, ripped across the Wichita Metropolitan area, inflicting widespread damage to trees, roofs, power lines and power poles. Approximately 60,000 people lost power, about 15,000 of which remained without power for 3 days. While most of the reports were from off-duty NWS staff, reports were also received from law enforcement, trained spotters and amateur radio operators.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

113°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−21°FFeb 6, 1982

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Jul 27, 2011

Coldest day

−2°F2 times, most recently Dec 24, 1983

Wettest day

10.31 inSep 12, 2008

Snowiest day

12.0 inJan 18, 1962

Hottest year

2012mean 61.5°F

Coldest year

1983mean 54.3°F

Wettest year

200853.82 in

Driest year

196612.15 in

Snowiest season

39.4 in1987-88

Station Wichita (USW00003928), 1,400 ft elevation, 13.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1953 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Sedgwick County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00003928.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.