Butler County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Butler County: 28.
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.

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 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 29, 2022Tornado$37.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A highly visible tornado tracked across portions of Andover, Kansas, during the early evening hours of April 29th, 2022. The tornado went through a highly populated portion of town, including 2 different subdivisions. Also a health club took a direct hit, but no injuries occurred due to actions taken by the health club. Only 1 direct injury occurred from the tornado, with 3 indirect injuries occurred during search and rescue operations. Total damaged house or destroyed structures in Andover and rural Butler County were 205. Of the damaged properties, approximately 180 were residences and the rest were businesses or city buildings. Damage estimates were around $37 million.

2. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$30.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large swatch of damaging winds moved across the area from Benton to Rosalia including the city of El Dorado with winds measured at 80 mph at the Jefferson elementary school in El Dorado. Numerous large trees were knocked down in Benton, with a mobile home trailer rolled over east of town. The Damaging winds destroyed the historic stone silo bearing the name of the town of Towanda. The damaging winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph moved into El Dorado damaging roofs to numerous businesses in downtown and knocking down numerous large trees. Two or three schools in El Dorado had their roofs partially peeled off. The refinery in El Dorado had some large storage tanks dented. The damaging…

3. Nov 1, 1998Flood, Butler$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread heavy rains of 6-10 inches inundated South-Central and Southeast Kansas from the evening of October 30th thru November 1st while 4-8 inches drenched Central Kansas. As a result, record flooding occurred along the following rivers:Whitewater River: At Towanda: crest: 30.53 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 29.73 feet on 06/08/79). At Augusta: crest: 34.95 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 32.70 feet on 06/08/79).Arkansas River: At Derby: crest: 16.60 feet on 11/01/98. (Old record: 16.19 feet on 07/15/93). At Arkansas City, 28.89 feet on 11/03/98. (Old record: 27.62 feet on 05/11/93).Walnut River: At Arkansas City: crest: 32.45 feet on 11/03/98. (Old record: 29.22 feet on…

4. Mar 27, 2009Winter Storm, Butler$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wintry mix of light to moderate sleet and freezing rain affected the county from mid morning on the 27th into the overnight hours, and into the early morning hours on the 28th. The wintry mix eventually changed over to all snow from west to east during the morning hours on the 28th, and persisted into the afternoon hours. Sleet accumulations ranged from 2 to 4 inches countywide, along with widespread ice accumulations of one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch due to freezing rain. Snowfall accumulations on top of the sleet and ice ranged from 1 to 5 inches, heaviest over western portions of the county, where stout north to northeast winds resulted in some blowing and drifting…

5. Apr 8, 2011Hail$4.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball to softball size hail pounded the city of Rose Hill. This hail damaged roofs, siding, cars and homes. The Rose Hill high school roof was a total loss at $700,000. Damage to city vehicles and buildings were estimated at $313,000. Nine out of 10 of the city police cars have been damaged and one car was totalled. Nearly every home in town had 50 to 100 percent roof damage.

6. Jul 8, 2009Hail$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same hail storm that devastated Downtown Wichita, Kansas continued to track east and produced large hail ranging from golf ball to baseball size, across western sections of Butler county including the cities of Andover and Augusta along US Highway 54. Witnesses report that the hail lasted for almost a half an hour, causing damage to hundreds of vehicles with numerous roofs and windows damaged.

7. May 26, 2015Hail$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   We received a delayed report of baseball-sized hail that caused damage to an unspecified number of local businesses.

8. Jun 3, 2025Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous reports of significant flash flooding were reported across portions of Butler County. These reports included, but not limited to, the following road closures: Kansas Highway 77 at McCollum, Highway 254 in El Dorado and Prairie Creek Road near Benton. Many other side streets and roads across Butler County were also impassible especially in El Dorado. In addition to the road closures, numerous reports of stalled vehicles due to high water were reported across many areas of the county. Homes were evacuated on the north and southwest side of El Dorado due to rapidly rising flood waters. Flooding on area roadways and into homes impacted the Wagon Wheel neighborhood near Santa…

9. Dec 11, 2007Ice Storm, Butler$1.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One to one and half inches of ice accumulated across mainly northern Butler County during the ice storm. This resulted in approximately 100 downed power poles and 400 downed lines. Damage to the electrical infrastructure is estimated at $1.9 million. There was also widespread damage to trees but the cost of the damage is unknown.

10. Oct 17, 2007Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Straight line winds caused extensive damage to a business. The business was a large span, morton type building with metal siding and roofs. Four large garage doors were blown in and the roof was partially removed. Cold storage lockers in the parking lot were thrown 20 to 40 feet. Some power lines were also knocked down. No injuries occurred, due to the plant employees being sent home earlier in the day due to a power ouutage.

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

117°FJul 18, 1936

All-time low

−28°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

100°FJul 28, 1894

Coldest day

−1°F4 times, most recently Dec 23, 2022

Wettest day

9.05 inAug 25, 2005

Snowiest day

13.0 inFeb 22, 1971

Hottest year

1946mean 60.4°F

Coldest year

1912mean 52.4°F

Wettest year

201953.03 in

Driest year

193617.41 in

Snowiest season

34.0 in1948-49

Station El Dorado (USC00142401), 1,290 ft elevation, 10.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 94.6% 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 USC00142401.
• 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.