Emporia

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 Lyon County, the county that contains Emporia.

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 Lyon County, the county that contains Emporia.

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 Lyon County, the county that contains Emporia.

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.

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. Nov 1, 1998Flash Flood$2.5 million
2. May 21, 2011Tornado$2.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another tornado developed 3 miles southwest of Reading. This tornado proceeded to hit the town of Reading producing EF3 damage in the city. The tornado continued on a path that took it into Osage County Kansas where it produced additional damage before lifting approximately 4 miles south of Osage City. A single story home in Reading was swept off its foundation. There were several two story homes with significant damage to the second story or completely removed. A well anchored mobile home was lofted and thrown 50 yards into a tree. Vehicles were rolled and large chemical tank was thrown 100 yards. Winds estimated at 140 mph.

3. Jan 29, 2002Winter Storm, Lyon$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm struck all of north central...northeast and east central Kansas in late January. Freezing rain mixed at times with sleet occurred across east central Kansas from the early evening of January 29 into the morning of January 31. The freezing rain accumulated as much as an inch and a half of glaze which caused considerable power line and tree damage. Many residents remained without power well into February. Several buildings collapsed under the weight of the ice doing considerable damage to the contents. A boat marina at Lake Perry collapsed under the weight of the ice and damaged or destroyed 19 boats. Northeast Kansas received mostly snow from the night of the…

4. Jul 24, 2004Flash Flood$935,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms produced heavy rains totaling 3 to 6 inches the morning of the 24th with flash flooding the result. Numerous rural roads and bridges were washed out or badly damaged. Damage totals were over 900 thousand dollars.

5. Jun 12, 2005Flood, Lyon$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate flooding of the mainstem of the Cottonwood and Neosho Rivers. Highway 99, 11/2 miles south of Emporia, was closed for a time. Traffic was rerouted to the Kansas Turnpike.

6. Jun 4, 2005Flood, Lyon$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate flooding was reported on mainstem rivers due to recent heavy rains upstream. This included the Neosho and Marais Des Cygnes rivers.

7. May 7, 2007Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Report of water flowing over K-99 north of town. This portion of the road has been barricaded by law enforcement. Unofficial reports of 5 to 6 inches of rain received. The police department reported water damage and several evacuations took place.

8. Jun 12, 2005Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A local bridge was closed and at least 6 inches of fast flowing water reported across junction of k-99 and US 56 junction.

9. Aug 26, 2005Flood, Lyon$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread moderate flooding along the Cottonwood and Neosho Rivers due to past days' heavy rain mainly upstream. K-99 highway south of Emporia was down to one lane traffic due to flooding.

10. Jun 3, 2005Flash Flood$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Fast flowing water washed out bridge and closed U.S. Highway 56.

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

115°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−17°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

86°FJul 14, 1954

Coldest day

1°F2 times, most recently Jan 9, 1977

Wettest day

6.11 inJun 4, 1965

Snowiest day

8.6 in2 times, most recently Mar 9, 1975

Hottest year

2012mean 59.5°F

Coldest year

1979mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

197363.29 in

Driest year

195320.41 in

Station Emporia Asos (USW00013989), 1,202 ft elevation, 5.0 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1950 to October 27, 2026; 99.3% 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 Lyon 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 USW00013989.
• 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.