Dickinson County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Dickinson County: 1.
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. Jun 11, 2008Tornado$20.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the first segment of a tornado that moved through 2 counties. This tornado continued northeast out of Dickinson County and dissipated shortly after entering Geary County. The tornado first touched down at a farmstead to the north-northwest of the town of Enterprise. A grain bin was destroyed, and some tree damage was observed. Damage was also noted to another farmstead where a grain bin was destroyed, as were a center pivot and several power poles. The tornado then entered Chapman on the southwest side. It was reported that 70 homes were completely destroyed, and 215 damaged. In all, three-quarters of the buildings in town sustained damage. Two churches were demolished.…

2. Jun 3, 2005Flood, Dickinson$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding with 2 to 7 inches of rain. Some roads were under at least 3 feet of water. The Herington reservoir reached an all time high level according to local authorities. The reservoir began impounding water in 1982.

3. May 6, 2007Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Solomon River is out of banks. Road between Solomon and Abilene impassable. Smoky Hill river at Enterprise floods. Sandbagging is done in the cities of Abilene, Chapman and Solomon due to flooding along the Solomon and Smoky Hill Rivers.

4. May 24, 2007Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rain road/State highway 206 closed one mile north of Chapman. Vehicles are stranded in Chapman with sandbagging and some evacuations made. Moderate or greater flooding on the Smoky Hill river through Abilene and Enterprise with widespread lowland flooding that closes some roads.

5. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reports of three feet of water running across roads in the town of Solomon. Also, a report of 1 to 2 feet of water cross highway 40 at Daisy road.

6. Jun 3, 2005Flash Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six inches of fast flowing water over roads 6 miles south of Hope. One fatality occurred when a 37 year old man was swept away by rapidly flowing water after he exited his truck when the right front tire dropped off a low water bridge.

7. May 8, 2003Hail$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail damaged buildings and destroyed some crops near Upland.

8. Feb 24, 2007High Wind, Dickinson$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Outflow from decaying thunderstorms brought wind damage within the city of Herington. A large locust tree was blown onto a truck. A newly constructed metal carport that was staked to the ground was lifted and rotated 180 degrees before landing some 30 feet away. A metal storage shed was blown away from one property. The shed slammed into a gas meter rupturing it. Shingles were torn from roofs and a large plate glass window was blown out of a local business.

9. May 8, 2003Hail$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large hail damaged buildings and destroyed some crops in the Buckeye area.

10. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$100,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Reports of three feet of water running across roads in the town of Solomon. Also, a report of 1 to 2 feet of water cross highway 40 at Daisy road.

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

113°F3 times, most recently Jul 15, 1954

All-time low

−29°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

86°FAug 4, 1916

Coldest day

−8°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.25 inJul 18, 1896

Snowiest day

19.0 inFeb 27, 1900

Hottest year

2012mean 60.8°F

Coldest year

1961mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

191550.95 in

Driest year

195614.39 in

Snowiest season

44.5 in1898-99

Station Abilene (USC00140010), 1,187 ft elevation, 4.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to August 31, 2026; 89.2% 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 USC00140010.
• 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.