Atchison County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 19, 2001Flood, Atchison$260,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Major flooding at the Delaware River in Muscotah and northern portions of the Stranger Creek basin. Rains in excess of 10 inches, fell over portions of Atchison county. Bridge over Stranger Creek in south central Atchison county had severe damage.

2. Jan 30, 2002Heavy Snow, Atchison$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of eastern Kansas, January 29th through January 31st. Ice accumulations of 1 to 2 inches were observed with snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches in Atchison and Doniphan counties. The results of the storm were devasting to many communities. A tremendous amount of people were without power for extended periods of times, due to downed trees and tree limbs crippling power supplies in the affected areas.

3. Mar 13, 2019Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in St. Joseph, Missouri reached 32.12 feet on March 22 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Buchanan County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Local fields were also submerged, which…

4. Mar 13, 2019Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The gauge in Leavenworth, Kansas reached 31.30 feet (2nd place at the time). Some resources were secured or moved off the base at Fort Leavenworth since some of the base was covered with water. The river remained in flood into the middle part of May. Note: The dollar value assigned to the damages is likely not accurate, as the full extent of the damage is unknown.

5. Oct 8, 1997Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down in Northeast Jackson County then tracked northeast through Western Atchison County south of Route 9 to 2 miles northwest of Muscotah. Spotters then tracked the tornado northward along Highway 159 to 2 miles south of Horton in Brown County which is 7 miles north of Muscotah. The tornado was estimated to be traveling at a speed of 40 to 45 MPH. Numerous power lines were reported blown down and two farm outbuilding were destroyed 2 miles northwest of Muscotah. The path of the tornado was based on the track through Atchson County only.

6. Mar 12, 2006Hail$50,000
7. Dec 10, 2007Ice Storm, Atchison$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to three quarters of an inch of ice was reported across the county. Numerous tree limbs and power lines were reported down.

8. Mar 12, 2006Hail$50,000
9. Feb 25, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds ripped the roof off a barn 1 mile north of Lancaster, and damaged two outbuildings and two late-model pickup trucks on a farm near Good Intent, about 5 miles northeast of Lancaster.

10. Mar 12, 2006Hail$25,000

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

107°F2 times, most recently Jul 30, 1980

All-time low

−25°FJan 12, 1974

Warmest night

87°FJul 27, 1970

Coldest day

−4°FJan 14, 2024

Wettest day

4.74 inSep 13, 2016

Snowiest day

8.5 inMar 2, 1978

Hottest year

2024mean 57.2°F

Coldest year

1979mean 50.3°F

Wettest year

197355.60 in

Driest year

201119.46 in

Station St. Joseph Rosecrans Mem Airport (USW00013993), 807 ft elevation, 20.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 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.

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 USW00013993.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.