Liberal

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 Seward County, the county that contains Liberal.

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.

The drought index is for Seward County, the county that contains Liberal.

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. May 15, 2003Tornado$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second tornado stayed mainly in town. It destroyed several buildings and caused significant roof and tree damage.

2. Jun 28, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$8.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tremendous storm rolled in from the east (HP supercell). The combination of the 80 to 100 mph wind and hail bigger than golf balls produced at least eight million dollars in damage. This occurred six weeks after another devastating storm that produced around $20 million in damage.

3. May 15, 2003Tornado$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado began 1 mile west of town and first tore through the northwest part of Liberal destroying several mobile homes and throwing a pickup into the debris. Other homes in the area received heavy roof damage.

4. May 15, 2003Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tremendous hail storm pounded Kismet, lasting for more than 30 minutes. Every structure in the town received significant damage. Trees were stripped bare of leaves, even cedar trees! Nearly all windows were broken in vehicles and homes.

5. Oct 1, 1998Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain fell across the liberal area for 24 hours with the heaviest rain falling between 8 AM and 5 PM CDT. Five to eight inches were reported with one unofficial report indicating 10 inches! Streets were flooded that had never flooded before. A local disaster was declared.

6. May 24, 2015Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado appeared much stronger and wider than it actually was due to very low cloud bases. Irrigation pivots were damaged. The tornado moved into Meade county at 20:49 LST.

7. Mar 7, 2000Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado began at 3rd and Pennsylvania and traveled north-northwest to just past the Southwest Medical Center. The small circulation was evidently wrapped into the RFD as it traversed around the southeast section of the Meso. Several trees were uprooted, the awing at a gas station was damaged, signs were blown down. sheds destroyed, KDOT tower was blown down and 1/3 of the hospital roof was removed.

8. May 26, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   2 irrigation sprinklers destroyed...fertilizer tanks carried over 1 mile...2 houses damaged...fence destroyed...trees uprooted...hay bales tossed...30 foot radio tower blown down...wheat plants pulled up...farm building heavily damaged...flood irrigation pipe scattered about.

9. Jul 1, 2020Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A detailed storm survey was done on this tall and very visible tornado. Pivot irrigation sprinklers, power poles and crops were impacted.

10. May 26, 1996Tornado$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Trees uprooted...minor damage to a home...several grain bins damaged and an implement overturned. Tornado continued into Seward county. In Seward county 3 irrigation sprinklers were destroyed...with hay bales tossed and a few trees uprooted.

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

114°F2 times, most recently Jun 10, 1981

All-time low

−20°FFeb 27, 1930

Warmest night

85°FJun 27, 1936

Coldest day

0°FJan 30, 1893

Wettest day

8.00 inMay 22, 1991

Snowiest day

15.0 inDec 19, 1911

Hottest year

1934mean 60.9°F

Coldest year

1912mean 53.6°F

Wettest year

201546.56 in

Driest year

19569.62 in

Snowiest season

53.3 in1911-12

Station Liberal (USC00144695), 2,834 ft elevation, 1.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 98.6% 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 Seward 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 USC00144695.
• 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.