Ness County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Jun 21, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   100 POWER POLES DOWN IN THE AREA...NUMEROUS FARMS DAMAGED FROM 3 MILES SOUTH TO 11 MILES SOUTHWEST...TO 2 WEST OF NESS CITY. SOME EQUIPMENT WAS DAMAGED. WIND WAS OBVIOUSLY HIGHER SOUTH AND WEST OF TOWN.

2. May 9, 1996Hail$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Eight mile wide area of hail and wind moved across the county along and near kansas highway 96. Golf ball size hail and 80 mph wind were produced by a vicious thunderstorm that moved all the way from Scott county during the late evening hours.

3. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$325,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado originated in Hodgeman county and entered Ness county at 925 PM. This large tornado destroyed or heavily damaged 5 homes in Ness county. Hundreds of power poles were broken along with 7 pivot irrigation sprinklers and lots of damage to trees. There were also at least 20 head of cattle dead from this tornado in Ness county.

4. May 16, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two separate swaths of hail moved through the county. The first was in a 7 to 12 mile wide swath from 2 miles south of Utica...to Arnold...Ransom...Brownell...and McCracken. The second swath was from 2 miles south of Beeler...to 4 miles south of Ness City...to 3 miles south of Bazine. A dollar amount was not made available...but crops were nearly completely wiped out in the hail swaths and numerous windows were broken out in automobiles and homes.

5. May 31, 1996Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado did not have much to strike as it was across open farmland. One stone house was destroyed along with trees and fences. a few out buildings had some damage.

6. Aug 4, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   25 foot tree uprooted...3 doors blown off of an elevator...a roof was blown off of a barn just south of town.

7. Aug 10, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$35,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two 12X14 foot metal doors were ripped from a machine shed and blown 150 ft.

8. May 24, 1998Hail$33,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Windshield broken. Hail fell in a swath across the county. The swath was about 30 miles wide.

9. Jun 16, 2011Tornado$22,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was minor damage to a home and moderate damage to a large metal outbuilding.

10. Apr 27, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Damage was done to an irrigation sprinkler. A horse barn was lifted and blown over 25 foot high power line.

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

110°F11 times, most recently Jun 29, 2012

All-time low

−24°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

81°F3 times, most recently Jul 22, 2001

Coldest day

−3°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

5.48 inApr 17, 2016

Snowiest day

16.0 inMar 24, 1980

Hottest year

2012mean 57.0°F

Coldest year

1993mean 50.5°F

Wettest year

197331.95 in

Driest year

195610.22 in

Snowiest season

50.0 in1992-93

Station Cedar Bluff Dam (USC00141383), 2,135 ft elevation, 23.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 27, 2026; 86.7% 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 USC00141383.
• 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.