Ford County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Ford 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. May 23, 1998Hail$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golfball to tennis ball size hail affected much of the Dodge City area.

2. Jul 16, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two telephone poles blown down on Highway 283 near the Expo Center south of Dodge City.

3. Jul 8, 2025Hail$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most of the hail was golf ball to 2-inch diameter, but largest tennis ball size. Two vehicles suffered windshield damage, a camper received a busted skylight, as well as house windows broken.

4. Sep 12, 1997Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   7 to 10 inches of rain fell in about a four hour period causing extensive flash flooding across the southern portion of Dodge City. 200 homes and businesses were flooded. 1000 people were evacuated from their homes.

5. May 17, 2019Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado moved out of Clark County at 1952 LST. One farm that received EF3 damage was unoccupied at the time as the residents left their safe spot (basement) and drove 1 1/2 miles east. They left the basement, that did not have any debris in it, on the advice of a storm chaser that was following the tornado. They (Grandparents and three grand children) were very fortunate that they were not injured, if not worse.

6. Aug 29, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several large grain bins were destroyed and there was a stretch of power poles broken over by the high wind.

7. Apr 10, 2001Tornado$425,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eight pivot sprinklers were destroyed along with a barn and silo.

8. Feb 23, 2007Tornado$225,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second tornado to form started 6.3 miles northwest of Fowler at 1011 PM and traveled a total of 17 miles dissipating at 1040 PM 7 miles southwest of the Dodge City Post Office. It did EF1 damage to five pivot irrigation sprinklers, trees and some outbuildings...in addition to moving a 3000 gallon tank about 1/2 of a mile.

9. Jun 12, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$210,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second downburst was recorded by radar and verified by ground survey south of Dodge City and south of another damage area. In this area, three pivot irrigation sprinklers were overturned, several power poles were broken and a 1/4 mile stretch of cedar trees were uprooted. The damage area was about 3/4 mile wide and 2 1/2 miles long.

10. Jan 17, 1996High Wind, Ford$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Several semi trucks blown off the road. Many structures with roof damage. Numerous power outages.

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

111°FJun 27, 2012

All-time low

−21°FDec 22, 1989

Warmest night

83°FJun 13, 2022

Coldest day

−4°FDec 21, 1983

Wettest day

4.74 inJul 4, 2010

Snowiest day

14.5 inMar 10, 1922

Hottest year

2024mean 58.5°F

Coldest year

1993mean 52.4°F

Wettest year

195132.76 in

Driest year

19569.97 in

Snowiest season

61.3 in1992-93

Station Dodge City (USW00013985), 2,671 ft elevation, 1.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013985.
• 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.