Osage County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Osage County: 17.
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. May 8, 2003Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A second tornado touched down in Osage county about 13 miles southwest of Lyndon and moved northeast for 25 miles before dissipating 6 miles south of Overbrook. The tornado was a half mile wide in places and did considerable damage to farm buildings, machinery, and fences along its path.

2. Jan 29, 2002Winter Storm, Osage$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…

3. May 6, 2007Flood$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Nearly all streets heading both into and out of Burlingame are water covered and impassable. Several water rescues were performed. Roads were barricaded to prevent citizens from driving through the flooded roadways. The Burlingame post office was inundated with water, mud and worms. Two water rescues were made in Osage City. Water near Dragoon Creek flowing over highway 56 at least a mile wide. Public reports the highway 56 bridge was vibrating due to the force of the flowing water. Unofficial reports of 5 to 11 inches of rain in the county. Many federal, state and county highways flooded or closed. Record moderate or greater flooding on Salt Creek near Lyndon and near Quenemo on…

4. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Bridge was reported washed out on a country road near Burlingame.

5. Mar 12, 2006Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A hailstorm struck the Burlingame area and caused significant property damage. The hail continued for over half an hour and damaged homes, windshields and even patrol cars of the sheriff's department. Hail up to the size of tennis balls covered the ground.

6. Jun 30, 2007Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Marais des Cygnes river reaches moderate flooding stage with flooding continuing into early July. The river reaches record levels at Quenemo.

7. Nov 1, 1998Flash Flood$400,000
8. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread early morning thunderstorms with attendant very heavy rain caused widespread flash flooding. The flash flooding gave way to more generalized flooding by late morning. Some of the flooding lasted for several days. Record flooding occurred in Osage county at the gage sites on Salt Creek near Lyndon and the Marais Des Cygnes near Quenemo.|This flooding brought local disaster emergency declarations for Riley and Dickinson counties. This action qualified those counties for state and federal aid. Jackson and Pottawatomie counties qualified for FEMA funds.

9. Jun 11, 2005Flood, Osage$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Moderate flooding on the Neosho and Marais Des Cygnes rivers due to recent heavy rains.

10. May 8, 2003Tornado$246,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado touched down 8 miles southsouthwest of Barclay and moved northeast before dissipating 6 miles south of Osage City. The tornado damaged farm buildings and machinery along its path.

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°F2 times, most recently Aug 20, 2023

All-time low

−20°FFeb 1, 1979

Warmest night

82°F2 times, most recently Jul 27, 2026

Coldest day

−6°FDec 25, 1983

Wettest day

6.00 inNov 2, 1998

Snowiest day

9.0 inFeb 5, 2014

Hottest year

2012mean 60.1°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.4°F

Wettest year

197356.07 in

Driest year

196613.50 in

Snowiest season

31.1 in1978-79

Station Pomona Lake (USC00146498), 1,063 ft elevation, 8.8 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1963 to October 27, 2026; 92.6% 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 USC00146498.
• 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.