Leavenworth County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Leavenworth County: 2.
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.

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 28, 2019Tornado$26.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado is a continuation of the tornado that formed in Douglas County and crossed the Kansas River into Leavenworth County. As the tornado crossed the Kansas River it became very strong and wide. It produced EF-3 damage to residences along the Kansas River. When the tornado impacted Linwood, Kansas it produced isolated EF-3 and EF-4 damage. Preliminary estimates for damage exceeded 26 million dollars, per the Leavenworth Times ( https://www.leavenworthtimes.com/news/20190531/tornado-damage-exceeds-26-million ). Despite the EF-4 rating and widespread devastation to rural areas near Lawrence and Linwood no serious injuries occurred. This was the strongest tornado to impact the…

2. May 4, 2003Tornado$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado on the ground 2 miles northwest of Linwood at County Road 25 and Interstate 70. Reported by emergency management and ham radio operator. Video shows the tornado crossed the Kansas Turnpike east of the Eastern Toll Booth, and then proceeded northeast to where it lifted 2 miles south of Basehor. Total track length was 6 miles, with a width approaching 250 yards at times. Maxium intensity rating was F2, with most damage noted to homes near and just northeast of the intersection of 166th and Kansas Road.

3. Oct 2, 2005Flood, Leavenworth$2.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rains of from 7 to 9 inches caused record flooding of Stranger Creek in Easton, and near record flooding at Tonganoxie. The Stranger Creek at Easton crested at 26.00 feet, 9.00 feet above flood stage. This broke the previous high water record by one tenth of a foot. The Stranger Creek near Tonganoxie crested at 29.36 feet, or 6.36 feet above flood stage. 10,000 acres of crops had 60 percent or greater loss of crops. Several bridges and roads were washed out.

4. May 11, 2000Tornado$2.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado, which had formed in Jefferson County, entered southwestern Leavenworth County at around 9:40 pm CDT, 6 miles west-southwest of Tonganoxie. The tornado moved east-northeast and lifted 2 miles north of Basehor at 10:12 pm. The 16 mile long path was as wide as 1/4 mile at times, though the average was around 100 yards wide. In Leavenworth County, 200 homes were affected and six were destroyed. One apartment building suffered roof damage. Thirteen businesses were damaged, and two were destroyed. The Leavenworth County Fairgrounds in Tonganoxie suffered extensive damage, approaching a half-million dollars. Total damage was estimated by County Emergency Management officials…

5. Jun 19, 2001Flood, Leavenworth$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flood for Stranger Creek at Easton. More than 10 inches of rain was reported in the headwaters of Stranger Creek in Atchison county. Major flooding was experienced south of Easton into Tonganoxie. The crest at Easton was 25.90 feet or 8.90 feet above flood stage. Extensive damage was found in Easton. In addition...a bridge crossing the creek near Linwood was destroyed. Also several roads were washed out.

6. Oct 4, 1998Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms on the evening of October 4th produced very heavy rainfall resulting in major flash flooding over the Kansas counties of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Up to 3 to 5 inches of rain fell in a three hour period between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM CDT. In Lenexa, KS, over 5 inches of rain fell between 7:00 PM and 8:15 PM. The heavy rainfall with these evening thunderstorms fell on top of an already rain soaked soil from 1 to 3 inches of rain that had fallen over the region earlier in the day. Rain also fell on 6 of the 7 days during the week prior to the flash flood.In Johnson County, a 27 year old male was killed in Lenexa when his car was swept of the road near the…

7. Oct 2, 2005Flash Flood$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   8.5 inches of rain fell in the Easton area with flash flooding reported on city streets and roads entering and leaving town. 100 homes or businesses suffered damage with 35 having major damage. One home was destroyed. A nursing home with 40 residents had to be evacuated.

8. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Leavenworth$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of eastern Kansas, January 29th through January 31st. Ice accumulations of 1 to 2 inches were observed with snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches in Atchison and Doniphan counties. The results of the storm were devasting to many communities. A tremendous amount of people were without power for extended periods of times, due to downed trees and tree limbs crippling power supplies in the affected areas.

9. May 24, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A power pole was snapped in half at this location.

10. Oct 2, 2005Flash Flood$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    Flash flooding reported in Leavenworth with 130 buildings having suffered minor damage. 20 buildings reported major 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

109°FAug 29, 1984

All-time low

−23°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

83°F2 times, most recently Jul 10, 1980

Coldest day

−8°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

8.82 inSep 12, 1977

Snowiest day

11.0 inJan 5, 2025

Hottest year

2012mean 58.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.5°F

Wettest year

197355.26 in

Driest year

201222.28 in

Snowiest season

44.3 in2009-10

Station Kansas City International Airport (USW00003947), 1,008 ft elevation, 13.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1972 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 USW00003947.
• 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.