Linn County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 1, 2007Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Marais Des Cygnes River at La Cygne had major flooding, with a second highest crest ever of 36.07 feet, or 11.07 feet above flood stage. Many homes and businesses suffered loss.

2. Feb 28, 2007Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   EF4 tornado crossed from Anderson county into Linn county in Kansas at 7:30 PM CST, 4 miles northwest of Blue Mound. The tornado moved east-northeast over mainly rural areas of the county. A home, several farm buildings, and garage were completely destroyed. Other buildings received minor to moderate damage. There were no injuries or deaths with this tornado. The tornado also downed trees and power lines. The tornado lifted 6 miles north-northeast of Pleasanton at 8:10 PM CST.

3. Jul 1, 2007Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Marais Des Cygnes River near Trading Post had major flooding, and had its second highest crest of 40.26 feet, or 15.26 feet above flood stage.

4. Jun 30, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees uprooted. Some trees toppled onto houses and produced structural damage.

5. May 26, 2004Tornado$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Mobile home and old one room school house destroyed.

6. Jun 5, 2008Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF0 tornado briefly touched down 2 miles northeast of Prescott at 2157CST. The tornado traveled about one mile to the northeast before lifting at 2200CST. Several barns and sheds were damaged or destroyed.|Trees and power lines were also blown down by the winds.

7. Mar 12, 2006Hail$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant tornado outbreak occurred over portions of eastern Kansas and western Missouri on March 12, 2006. Three distinct rounds of severe weather occurred on March 12th, one in the morning, the second in the mid-afternoon hours, and the last round which occurred after sunset. In addition to the seventeen tornado touchdowns in the Pleasant Hill forecast area, 203 reports of large hail and/or damaging winds were also received from virtually every county in the Pleasant Hill service area. To put the March 12th outbreak into perspective, an average severe weather season in our local area brings approximately 11 tornadoes, and around 400 reports of hail and/or damaging wind to…

8. Mar 12, 2006Hail$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant tornado outbreak occurred over portions of eastern Kansas and western Missouri on March 12, 2006. Three distinct rounds of severe weather occurred on March 12th, one in the morning, the second in the mid-afternoon hours, and the last round which occurred after sunset. In addition to the seventeen tornado touchdowns in the Pleasant Hill forecast area, 203 reports of large hail and/or damaging winds were also received from virtually every county in the Pleasant Hill service area. To put the March 12th outbreak into perspective, an average severe weather season in our local area brings approximately 11 tornadoes, and around 400 reports of hail and/or damaging wind to…

9. May 8, 2003Tornado$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado crossed from Anderson county into Linn county 3 miles west northwest of Blue Mound and produced tree damage in rural county before dissipating. However...a cemetery was hit with many tombstones knocked over and damage to mausoleums.

10. Aug 15, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Wind damage occurred to trees and a power pole. A tree fell onto a car.

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

117°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−26°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

85°FJul 15, 1980

Coldest day

−1°F2 times, most recently Feb 16, 2021

Wettest day

8.67 inJun 11, 1981

Snowiest day

19.0 inDec 29, 1954

Hottest year

1953mean 59.4°F

Coldest year

1979mean 52.2°F

Wettest year

201963.98 in

Driest year

198022.08 in

Snowiest season

39.1 in1954-55

Station Butler 4W (USC00231145), 790 ft elevation, 21.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 27, 2026; 96.1% 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 USC00231145.
• 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.