Jefferson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Oct 2, 2005Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 16 flooded with deep fast flowing water northwest of Valley Falls. Other roads over the county flooded as well including Highways 92 and 59.

2. May 18, 1997Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to baseball size caused extensive damage to at least 14 homes and smashed the windshields of several vehicles.

3. Jan 29, 2002Winter Storm, Jefferson$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A major winter storm struck all of north central...northeast and east central Kansas in late January. Freezing rain mixed at times with sleet occurred across east central Kansas from the early evening of January 29 into the morning of January 31. The freezing rain accumulated as much as an inch and a half of glaze which caused considerable power line and tree damage. Many residents remained without power well into February. Several buildings collapsed under the weight of the ice doing considerable damage to the contents. A boat marina at Lake Perry collapsed under the weight of the ice and damaged or destroyed 19 boats. Northeast Kansas received mostly snow from the night of the…

4. Oct 2, 2005Flood, Jefferson$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A record breaking flood event occurred October 1st into October 3rd over a part of Northeast Kansas. Intense rainfall during the late evening of October 1st through the early morning of October 2nd brought six to twelve inches of rain to southern Pottawatomie, northern Shawnee, and much of Jefferson and Jackson counties. An unofficial report of 14.9 inches of rain was recorded on the north edge of Hoyt in southern Jackson County. Fortunately, no deaths were reported but a total of 9 injuries occurred. Damage totaled in the millions of dollars to personal property as well as to transportation, sewer and water distribution infrastructures. The governor declared a state of emergency…

5. Jun 29, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very strong winds up to 90 mph and golf ball size hail produced widespread damage at the Perry Lake Marina and surrounding camp grounds. The winds tore a large section of the roof off a restaurant and a boat storage facility, damaged 50 boats, 20 severely, damaged the roof of 5 docks and destroyed a barn. The wind also turned 6 camper trailers onto their side. Two people in one of the trailers were injured. A total of 80 camper trailers plus several smaller vehicles received dents and broken windows from debris and golf ball size hail driven by the strong winds. Numerous trees, large limbs, and several power lines were also brought to the ground. A damage survey by National…

6. Jun 5, 1996Tornado$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A small tornado hit on the southeast corner of Lake Perry just north of the Lake Perry Yacht and Marina and moved northeast to the Corps of Engineers administration area. About 25 to 30 boats were damaged or destroyed at the marina along with adjacent buildings. Storage buildings and vehicles were damaged at the Corps of Engineers area along with many large trees. Debris was scattered in many directions and power lines were knocked down.

7. Oct 1, 2005Flash Flood$420,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Officials closing several roads in the Meriden area due to flash flooding and deep water over the roads.

8. Sep 23, 2005Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to six inches of heavy rain from overnight thunderstorms brought extensive flooding and flash flooding along the Kansas River Valley from near St. Marys to Lawrence.The 5.61 inches of rain that fell in Topeka broke the one-day rainfall record for the city. Sewers backed up and basements were flooded in some homes within the city. A few cars were found floating in the flooded streets. Water rescues were made on stranded motorists by firefighters just northwest of Topeka. Numerous roads were flooded by deep ponded water and some were closed by water up to six feet deep. The Perry High School football stadium was flooded by six inches of rain during the morning hours and school…

9. May 26, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Areas around the southern end of Perry Lake near the Perry State Park suffered extensive tree and property damage due to downburst winds estimated at 75 to 100 mph. RV's, campers, boats and other vehicles and objects were tossed around damaged or destroyed by the high winds. Some buildings were also damaged.

10. Jun 27, 1999Flash Flood$120,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rains caused flash flooding . Two people were stranded by the flash flooding near McLouth and had to be rescued by boat. Three feet of water was in the Valley Falls High School gymnasium for a time. Eight homes had extensive flood damage.

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

112°FAug 2, 2011

All-time low

−26°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

85°FJul 14, 1980

Coldest day

−7°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

5.61 inSep 23, 2005

Snowiest day

15.2 inJan 9, 1993

Hottest year

2012mean 59.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.5°F

Wettest year

197360.89 in

Driest year

196319.07 in

Snowiest season

44.4 in1959-60

Station Topeka Asos (USW00013996), 880 ft elevation, 15.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 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 USW00013996.
• 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.