Bourbon County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Bourbon 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. Apr 7, 2013Hail$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hen egg to tennis ball size hail was reported in Fort Scott, Kansas. It was estimated that two thirds of the homes in Fort Scott had damage because of hail. Windows to houses and cars were broken across the Fort Scott area. Damage was reported to siding and roofing of homes. The courthouse lost 66 windows as well as suffered damage to the roof, air conditioning and weather unit. One auto dealership had over a million dollar in damages to cars. The estimate damage cost for this storm for the entire county will be in this report.

2. Jul 8, 2009Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced golf ball sized hail over the community of Bronson. Nearly every home in Bronson sustained window damage and siding damage from this wind driven large hail.

3. Sep 13, 1998Flash Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of 5 to 12 inches fell over portions of extreme southeast Kansas. Unoffical reports of rainfall as high as 14 inches was reported in Bourbon County Kansas. The hardest hit areas were along the Marmaton River in Bourbon County including Ft. Scott. The highest estimated stage of the Marmaton River at Ft. Scott reached 50.05 feet on 9/14/98 which is the second highest stage ever recorded (records date back to the late 1800s).Some specific damage reports:Bourbon County: Widespread river flooding occurred in northern sections of Ft. Scott affecting numerous homes and businesses. Flood water receded fairly quickly and water damage was confined to lower floors and basements.…

4. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Bourbon$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large scale ice storm event developed over southeast Kansas and west central Missouri during the early morning hours of January 30, 2002. Synoptically, a shallow arctic air mass moved through the region dropping surface temperatures in the upper 20s. Strong jet stream winds from the southwest provided the influx of sub-tropical type regime. In addition, deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico surged northward above this shallow air mass to set the stage for a prolonged ice storm. Light to moderate rainfall fell over the sub-freezing surface temperatures for nearly 36 hours. Ice begun accumulating on trees and power lines from southeast Kansas into west central Missouri Wednesday…

5. Apr 27, 2014Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A storm survey conducted by the NWS Office in Pleasant Hill found an EF1 tornado began at the intersection of Highway 69 and Soldier Road, near Hammond, Kansas. Minor damage was noted near Hammond, with the most significant damage consisting of toppled over grain bins and several derailed empty train cars. Through the remainder of the Bourbon County path, several destroyed outbuildings were noted as well as significant tree damage. The tornado path continued into Linn County, Kansas. Maximum winds with the tornado in Bourbon County were estimated to be between 100 and 110 mph with a maximum width of 200 yards.

6. Apr 4, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of significant wind damage to homes and outbuildings were received. At least one barn suffered structural failure and roof decking and shingles were removed from multiple homes and businesses. Several trees were also uprooted or damaged. Winds were estimated at between 80 - 90 mph.

7. Jun 28, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds produced widespread damage across the county. Especially hard hit was the Ft. Scott area. Winds downed a number of barns, small trailers, trees and power lines.

8. Mar 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that straight line winds damaged rural areas north of Fort Scott. Damage included a two story home moved off of its foundation, two recreational vehicles overturned, a destroyed carport, tree damage, and several hay bales were flipped over.

9. Jun 28, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nearly 200 trees were knocked over from thunderstorm wind gusts. Approximately 12 homes were damaged from these falling trees, while power lines were also impacted. Nearly 200 homes were without power on the west side of Fort Scott.

10. May 3, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds downed numerous power poles and lines causing over 2000 power outages between Elsmore, Hiatville and Devon.

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

120°F2 times, most recently Jul 14, 1954

All-time low

−24°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

88°FAug 9, 1969

Coldest day

−1°FDec 24, 1983

Wettest day

12.50 inSep 15, 1998

Snowiest day

19.0 inDec 24, 1915

Hottest year

1954mean 62.3°F

Coldest year

1917mean 54.6°F

Wettest year

199864.26 in

Driest year

201221.85 in

Station Fort Scott (USC00142835), 884 ft elevation, 3.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1896 to June 30, 2026; 85.9% 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 USC00142835.
• 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.