Newton

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 Harvey County, the county that contains Newton.

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 Harvey County, the county that contains Newton.

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 Harvey County, the county that contains Newton.

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. Dec 10, 2007Ice Storm, Harvey$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A half to one inch of ice accumulated across Harvey County during the ice storm. This resulted in approximately 250 downed power poles and 500 downed lines. Damage to the electrical infrastructure is estimated at $3.7 million. There was also widespread damage to trees but the cost of the damage is unknown.

2. May 24, 2007Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous, slow-moving thunderstorms produced 4 to 6 inches of rain across extreme northwest portions of Harvey County from the late afternoon hours on May 23rd, to the early morning hours on May 24th. Excessive runoff from this as well as heavy rainfall upstream across central Kansas caused the Little Arkansas River to flood. Several roads along the Little Arkansas were closed, and some homes and businesses received various magnitudes of flood damage. The Little Arkansas reached record flood stage at Halstead around midday on the 25th, forcing the community to close all three flood gates. Public and private damages suffered across the 7 townships affected were likely around $1 million.

3. Nov 1, 1998Flood, Harvey$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   At approximately 100 AM on 11/01/98, one woman, aged 50, was driving north on old U.S. Highway 81 from Wichita toward Newton when she encountered a barricade postioned across the highway due to water from jesper Creek. She ignored the barricade and drove into the water where her car stalled. At this point she left her car and began wading. Her car was subsequently swept off the highway and found between 1/4 and 1/2 mile downstream with the victim's body found an unspecified distance further.

4. Jan 9, 2011Winter Weather, Harvey$325,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three to five inches of snow fell across the region causing numerous accidents across the area. Sixty five accident or cars in the ditch were reported over a 17 hour period due to eh slick roads. The heaviest snowfall amounts occurred near Walton and Heston.

5. Feb 3, 2014Heavy Snow, Harvey$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six to eight inches of snow fell across the county. This led to numerous auto accidents and slide offs. One accident in particular occurred along Interstate 135, just north of Hesston. A two vehicle accident occurred, that killed a Moundridge man, as his pickup lost control and skidded into the oncoming traffic lane and was hit by another pickup coming the other way. The driver of the other pickup also sustained injuries that were not life threatening.

6. Aug 22, 1997Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   LIGHTNING STRUCK DUPLEX, SETTING IT ON FIRE. DUPLEX DESTROYED.

7. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$178,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive damage occurred across town with numerous large trees down and power poles down. Some roof, fence and vehicle damage was also reported across town from winds estimated between 70 and 80 mph. A local plant had a large door torn from its rail and railroad crossing arms on Main street were damaged. Nearly 500 homes lost power from the storm.

8. Jun 15, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$168,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damaging winds estimated around 60 mph caused damage along a path from Halstead to Hesston. Some local businesses in Hesston sustained roof damage. One building had 25 percent of roof ripped away. A nearby business also received damage. Numerous tree limbs were also knocked down in both towns. Homes north and west of Halstead also received serious damage, including destroying a 25 year old barn, and a 100 year old grove of Catalpa trees at one homestead. The damage path was almost a 100 yards wide, snapping poles, overturning grain bins and damaging irrigation pivots along its path.

9. Jun 8, 1998Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One farm sustained damage to three outbuildings while the residence sustained roof damage and had several windows blown out. A second farmstead sustained damage to it's roof, two barns and a metal shed.

10. Jan 28, 2006Tornado$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A landspout tornado touched down just northeast of Newton, blowing windows out of cars at an auto dealership, and downing light poles and large tree limbs.

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, 27.0 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 Harvey 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.