Osborne County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 9, 2005Hail$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced a series of tornadoes in Rooks County, Kansas. The first tornado did minor damage north of Palco. The second and third tornadoes were actually on the ground at the same time for awhile. Two farmsteads were hit with a barn and other outbuildings destroyed. An electrical substation was destroyed southwest of Stockton. There were several storm chase groups on this storm to take pictures and video of the dual tornado experience. A little later, as the storm passed over Stockton, another tornado formed. An exterior wall was severely damaged on the recently refurbished theater in downtown Stockton. A large grain bin was destroyed at the elevator. There…

2. May 16, 2021Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Persistent thunderstorms with heavy rain rates led to heavy rainfall and serious flooding in Osborne County during the early morning hours of May 16th. Highest rainfall totals included 8.16 from 1 WNW Codell, mainly between 1-4 AM CDT, 4.19 from 1 S Plainville, 4.11 from 13 SW of Tipton. The axis of heaviest rainfall occurred at the head of and alongside the Paradise Creek, which ultimately led to serious flash flooding of Natoma, Kansas in extreme SW Osborne County. The mayor stated that approximately 120 homes had moderate to severe damage, with another 15 likely a total loss. Approximately 22 businesses had water damage. Many people were displaced and had to be rescued from…

3. Dec 15, 2021Wildfire, Osborne$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind-driven wildfires affected a notable portion of southwestern Osborne County and also a small area in northwestern parts of the county. These fires started in the afternoon hours of the 15th, and while they were largely under control by the early morning of the 16th, small flare-ups were a concern for a few more days. The suspected cause of these fires was downed power lines due to strong winds, which gusted up to around 90 MPH at times. Approximately 11,200 acres were burned in the county, the vast majority of which occurred as part of the massive Four Counties Fire (which primarily impacted portions of Russell/Ellis counties just outside the local area). Within Osborne…

4. Jun 2, 2011Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain in excess of 4 inches caused flooding in northeast Osborne County along the North Fork of the Solomon River, the Twelve-mile Creek and the Oak Creek.

5. May 25, 2024Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging in size from ping pong balls to baseballs was reported across Downs.

6. May 25, 2024Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Scattered thunderstorms, including intense supercells, produce large to very large hail and locally heavy rainfall over portions of north central Kansas during the evening hours of May 25th. Initial thunderstorm development occurred on an isolated basis near the I-70 corridor, just SW of Rooks County, between 5pm and 6pm CDT. This activity quickly become supercellular and very intense around 6PM as individual cells moved northeast into Rooks and Osborne Counties. Storms reached peak intensity and turned more easterly between 7pm and 9pm, aided by lift associated with a retreating warm front and developing low level jet. Hail reports of ping pong to golf ball size were common with…

7. Dec 10, 2007Winter Storm, Osborne$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy ice accumulations of one half inch or more was reported.

8. Dec 30, 2006Ice Storm, Osborne$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wide variety of significant winter weather began impacting portions of north central Kansas. Freezing rain, sleet, and snow began early Saturday morning mainly along highway 183 and spread east during the day. This led to significant ice accumulations which continued through Saturday night. Many locations received at least one half inch of ice. The deposits of ice have caused widespread tree damage, along with power outages, and damage to power lines and poles.

9. Sep 1, 2018Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging in size from quarters to tennis balls was reported.

10. Jun 3, 2015Tornado$250,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This tornado moved west, and began with damage to a silo and large metal building. On the tornado's trek, it tossed grain bin debris about three quarters of a mile. The tornado narrowly missed a new home, but damaged a vacant home on the same property. The tornado lifted in a field west of the farmstead. The movement of this tornado, along with the eastward moving tornado to the south, suggested that the parent mesocyclone associated with the supercell storm was near the ground and that the two tornadoes were rotating within that circulation.

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

113°FJun 28, 2012

All-time low

−26°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Warmest night

85°F3 times, most recently Aug 18, 1983

Coldest day

−6°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.44 inAug 2, 1911

Snowiest day

14.0 inNov 7, 1953

Hottest year

1953mean 57.1°F

Coldest year

2008mean 50.9°F

Wettest year

199340.30 in

Driest year

193410.02 in

Snowiest season

47.6 in1957-58

Station Smith Center (USC00147542), 1,820 ft elevation, 24.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1910 to October 27, 2026; 98.5% 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 USC00147542.
• 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.