Chase County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Nov 1, 1998Flood, Chase$2.0 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…

2. Dec 10, 2007Ice Storm, Chase$1.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   One to one and a half inches of ice accumulated across Chase 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.

3. May 8, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$380,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorm winds derailed 38 cars of a 118-car Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train. One of the derailed freight cars, a unibody tank car filled with sulphur dioxide, forced the evacuation of an estimated 250 residents. Six firemen and law enforcement officers, exact number of each unknown, were treated at the scene for respiratory ailments.

4. Aug 30, 2003Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rains of 6-8 inches, occurring in about 3 hours, caused flash flooding of Jacob Creek along I-35, the Kansas Turnpike, near milepost 116, 12 miles southwest of Emporia. The exceptionally heavy rains turned what had been a nearly dry creek into a raging river that surged almost due north at a rate of about 4,100 cubic feet per second. The creek overflowed across the northeast bound lanes and against a concrete median separating the northeast bound from the southwest bound lanes. The median consisted of 10 cement barriers, each 20 feet long and weighing 10,000-20,000 pounds. The water pressure built to the point that the median suddenly broke, allowing 6 to 7 feet of…

5. May 8, 2009Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three to four inches of rainfall caused flooding across the county. Numerous low water crossings were flooded with portions of the Kansas Turnpike near mile post 101 closed because of high water.

6. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread tree damage, including several trees that fell onto houses. One car was lifted off a highway but driver was unharmed.

7. Apr 26, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A garage picked up and fell on a car. A barn was blown down which inflicted minor damage to a residence. A second residence was also damaged in the area.

8. Jun 12, 2008Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado caused minor damage to a couple of homesteads.

9. Jul 2, 2008Flash Flood$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water was reported over highway 50 between mile marker 311 and 312. Several rural roads in the Cedar Point area were also closed due to high water over them.

10. Mar 27, 2009Winter Storm, Chase$30,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A wintry mix of light to moderate sleet, snow and freezing rain affected the county from mid morning on the 27th into the overnight hours. The wintry mix eventually changed over to snow from west to east during the overnight hours on the 27th and early morning hours on the 28th, and persisted into the afternoon hours on the 28th. Sleet accumulated over 2 and 3 inches in some places, with many of those same areas also experiencing up to one-half inch ice accumulation from freezing rain. Snowfall accumulations on top of the sleet and ice ranged from 1 to 4 inches, heaviest over west and northwest portions of the county, where stout north to northeast winds resulted in some blowing…

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

115°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−17°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

86°FJul 14, 1954

Coldest day

1°F2 times, most recently Jan 9, 1977

Wettest day

6.11 inJun 4, 1965

Snowiest day

8.6 in2 times, most recently Mar 9, 1975

Hottest year

2012mean 59.5°F

Coldest year

1979mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

197363.29 in

Driest year

195320.41 in

Station Emporia Asos (USW00013989), 1,202 ft elevation, 19.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1950 to October 26, 2026; 99.3% 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 USW00013989.
• 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.