Gray County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 26, 1996Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The thunderstorm that produced the F2 tornado in Seward and Haskell counties spun up an even bigger tornado further into Haskell and Gray counties. The tornado took a few trees in Haskell county. In Gray county...34 irrigation sprinklers systems were damaged or destroyed...power poles were snapped...2 houses were damaged...a barn was destroyed...a truck overturned...flood irrigation pipe was tossed like match sticks. In fact...one witness reported the 30 foot pieces of pipe were 4 or 5 hundred feet in the air. In addition...3 inch high corn plants were completely removed...leaving the field bare. Several people video taping the tornado were chased by the tornado...only to take…

2. May 26, 1996Tornado$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Supercell cycled once again. Dairy farm heavily damaged with 32 head of cattle injured or killed...6 sprinklers damaged or destroyed...trees uprooted...power poles snapped.

3. Jun 14, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In a 7 mile long stretch by 3 miles wide there were 10 pivot irrigation sprinklers overturned by down burst winds. In addition there were two trailers turned over and numerous tree limbs broken in this area.

4. May 28, 2018Thunderstorm Wind$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   One half of a school roof was torn off by the high wind. At least 5 pivot irrigation sprinklers were overturned in the area.

5. May 6, 1998Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail swath varying from 2 to 5 miles wide extended from lakin to near montezuma. Wheat and even CRP grass consisting of Little Blue Stem, Indian, Switch and Side Oats were mowed down to the ground. There was no loss on the CRP but there was a total loss on the wheat and corn. There was also substantial property damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.

6. Jun 12, 2009Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail was accompanied by 70 to 90 mph winds and did extensive damage to vehicles, buildings, crops and wildlife. The largest stones were a bit bigger than a baseball with the majority golfball sized. At one location 2 miles southeast of Cimarron the siding was stripped off a house. Many fields of alfalfa and wheat were completely mowed down by the wind and hail. Numerous rabbits and birds were laying dead where cover had once stood. Also, there were 5 pivot irrigation sprinklers overturned and several trees uprooted. Trees that were not uprooted were completely stripped of leaves and even pine trees were stripped of their needles in some cases.

7. Jul 3, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six center pivot sprinklers (out of 33 in this county) were overturned in this vicinity.

8. Aug 22, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   2 pivot sprinklers overturned...power poles blown down...a small airplane hanger was destroyed...a combine was rolled and crumpled up.

9. May 26, 1996Hail$200,000
10. May 27, 2001Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Trailer house blown over; trees uprooted; several buildings destroyed.

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°FJul 28, 2026

All-time low

−22°FJan 11, 1918

Warmest night

83°FSep 11, 1911

Coldest day

−3°FJan 6, 1912

Wettest day

5.97 inJul 24, 1944

Snowiest day

14.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 23, 2003

Hottest year

1977mean 58.5°F

Coldest year

1993mean 50.5°F

Wettest year

195138.63 in

Driest year

19348.10 in

Snowiest season

64.0 in1992-93

Station Cimarron (USC00141522), 2,703 ft elevation, 7.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1911 to September 30, 2026; 98.9% 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 USC00141522.
• 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.