Kiowa County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Kiowa County: 0.
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.

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

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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 11, 2001High Wind, Kiowa County$1.0 million
2. Oct 24, 1997Blizzard, Kiowa County$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   While blizzards are not uncommon in Colorado, the widespread areal extent of this blizzard was, perhaps a one in 50 year event. A powerful low pressure system moved in from the northwest through Utah, and settled into northern New Mexico. Meantime, arctic air invaded eastern Colorado, setting the stage for high winds, below zero wind chill values, heavy snow, and widespread life threatening conditions. The heavy snow began in the southwest mountains early on Friday morning the 24th. Snow spread across the Eastern San Juan and La Garita Mountains into the San Luis Valley, Upper Arkansas Valley, Wet Mountain Valley, and Sangre de Cristo Mountains through Friday morning. Snow began…

3. Sep 21, 2000Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado destroyed a small, poorly constructed mobile home and damaged some nearby grain bins on the far north side of Sheridan Lake. Some windows were also broken and shingles were ripped off houses. The tornado moved east-southeast through open country of Kiowa county and dissipated near the Colorado-Kansas border.

4. May 23, 2012Lightning$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a local oil company's holding tanks, igniting 350 barrels holding 15,000 gallons.

5. Oct 10, 2013High Wind, Western Kiowa County$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Convection, without lightning, enhanced already high gradient winds in and near Eads, causing numerous trees limb to come down. Minor damage was also done to fences, outbuildings, and houses.

6. Apr 27, 2012Tornado$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power poles just south of Chivington were downed...and a mobile home was destroyed and a church was damaged.

7. Apr 27, 2012Tornado$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado destroyed an unoccupied mobile home and a garage.

8. Jul 15, 2016Hail$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The hail broke windows and caused other damage at and near the Plainview School.

9. May 26, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three semi-trailers were blown over on US Highway between 1 and 3 miles north of Eads.

10. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$10,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Prowers County tornado crossed into Kiowa County and traveled another 11 miles...destroying electrical transmission poles (EF2 damage). The tornado did not hit any other structures in Kiowa County.

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

110°F3 times, most recently Jun 29, 1963

All-time low

−29°FJan 28, 1948

Warmest night

85°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 1934

Coldest day

−6°FJan 11, 1963

Wettest day

6.90 inJul 30, 2014

Snowiest day

18.0 inNov 19, 1975

Hottest year

1954mean 56.2°F

Coldest year

1993mean 49.6°F

Wettest year

194122.63 in

Driest year

20204.64 in

Snowiest season

68.0 in1959-60

Station Eads (USC00052446), 4,212 ft elevation, 4.1 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1907 to September 30, 2026; 98.4% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00052446.
• 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.