Allen County

Every recorded tornado

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

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

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.

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. Jul 1, 2007Flash Flood$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extremely heavy rainfall from the end of June into early July caused flash flooding throughout Allen County. The flash flooding and the ensuing river flooding caused an estimated 3 million dollars in damages to private property and 3 million dollars in damage to public infrastructure. Additionally, the flood water damaged and estimated 8,000 acres of crops. Moderate flooding occurred on the Neosho River with a crest of 26.9 feet recorded at Iola. This was 11.9 feet above flood stage. The river remained above flood stage until the afternoon of July 3rd.

2. Oct 6, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large area of damaging downburst winds moved across the town of Humboldt. The downburst winds were produced by the rear flank downtraft from a supercell thunderstorm as it moved just to the northeast of town. Numerous large trees were blow down. Some of the trees were almost 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The northwest side of town was the hardest hit, with most of the tree damage laying over to the west and northwest. A large row of power poles were snapped on the north side of town. Some minor superficial damage occurred to a few buildings in downtown.

3. Oct 6, 2016Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding occurred in Iola. High water approached several homes. The fire department assisted evacuating residents from their homes. Multiple cars were reported stranded due to the high water.

4. May 6, 2003Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The following sustained damage: The roofs of approximately 80% of all buildings, be it business or residential, require replacement, & approximately 50% of all vehicles.

5. Apr 2, 2014Hail$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A prolific hail producing storm dropped large hail across the city of Iola for twelve minutes. The hail ranged in size from tennis ball size (2.5 inches) to ping pong ball size (1.5 inches). There was widespread hail damage to roofs and cars across town.

6. Jan 1, 1999Winter Storm, Allen$250,000
7. Sep 7, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Part of a roof (on south side) of a tire business was torn off. A Cement Company also sustained roof damage. A 3rd building had a large door blown off it's hinges. On the city square, a flag pole was broken off. At the town's athletic field, roofs of the dugouts were torn off with numerous cinder blocks dislodged. Tree and power line damage was widespread, including large trees that were "snapped off at ground level". The town was without power for approximately two hours.

8. Jun 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Windows blown out and roofs damaged. Numerous trees uprooted inflicting further roof damage and knocking down power lines that left much of Allen County without power for 8 hours.

9. Oct 6, 2016Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Emergency manager reported flooding of roadways and stranded cars, especially on the west side of Iola and just west of town.

10. May 8, 2003Tornado$150,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Damage summary: 4NW Iola: Oil tank toppled, farm vehicle flipped over, several trees shreaded, and power poles snapped.

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

109°FJul 12, 1980

All-time low

−24°FFeb 10, 2011

Warmest night

88°FAug 1, 1964

Coldest day

−1°FDec 23, 2022

Wettest day

8.10 inSep 4, 2021

Snowiest day

11.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 2, 2011

Hottest year

2012mean 59.6°F

Coldest year

2008mean 54.0°F

Wettest year

197362.76 in

Driest year

196316.20 in

Snowiest season

29.5 in1948-49

Station Iola 1 W (USC00143984), 954 ft elevation, 3.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1959 to October 27, 2026; 98.8% 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 USC00143984.
• 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.