Phillips County

Every recorded tornado

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

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 29, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A ferocious severe thunderstorm moved south from Nebraska and battered a section of north-central Kansas with high winds and hail. Phillips and Rooks counties took the brunt of this mid-evening storm as losses in these two counties alone totaled in the millions. The Long Island area of northern Phillips county sustained the most damage. Winds of 100 mph hammered the area around 7 pm and hail covered the ground like snow. Over 300 windows in this small town were broken and nearly every home in the town sustained some damage to windows, siding or the roof. One person was injured as she and her family tried to run for cover from the storm. The wind blew her across the kitchen of her…

2. Jun 29, 2000Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A ferocious severe thunderstorm moved south from Nebraska and battered a section of north-central Kansas with high winds and hail. Phillips and Rooks counties took the brunt of this mid-evening storm as losses in these two counties alone totaled in the millions. The Long Island area of northern Phillips county sustained the most damage. Winds of 100 mph hammered the area around 7 pm and hail covered the ground like snow. Over 300 windows in this small town were broken and nearly every home in the town sustained some damage to windows, siding or the roof. One person was injured as she and her family tried to run for cover from the storm. The wind blew her across the kitchen of her…

3. Dec 30, 2006Ice Storm, Phillips$500,000
   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.

4. Jul 16, 2023Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A broad upper level trough was over the western part of the country and another upper trough was over the Great Lakes and extended south across much of the eastern part of the country. Northwest upper level winds were over north central Kansas. A shortwave trough moved across the area during the evening hours. Mid-level lapse rates were generally 7 to 8 degrees C/km across north central Kansas. MUCAPE was between 3,000 to 4,000 J/km and effective bulk shear was between 40 and 50 knots. ||Storms developed across northern Kansas and southern Nebraska during the afternoon hours. Some storms in southern Nebraska moved south into north central Kansas. The storms began by producing…

5. Jul 4, 2023Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to the size of ping pong balls was reported in the Phillipsburg area.

6. Aug 17, 2014Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail ranging in size from golf balls to softballs was reported.

7. Jul 31, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust of 68 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located two miles west-southwest of Phillipsburg. Emergency management reported downed tree limbs in town, including a few up to 10 inches in diameter.

8. Dec 10, 2007Winter Storm, Phillips$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

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

9. Jul 31, 2024Hail$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail up to golf ball size reported in and around Phillipsburg. Emergency management reported their vehicle had a broken windshield.

10. Jul 26, 2008Hail$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An upper level disturbance crossing the region aided in the development of afternoon thunderstorms across north central Kansas. While thre were reports of penny to quarter size hail acros Mitchell and Rooks Counties, Phillips County was the hardest hit, with hail from the size of half dollars to baseballs causing considerable crop damage in the area.

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

111°FJul 14, 1954

All-time low

−35°F2 times, most recently Dec 23, 1989

Warmest night

80°F3 times, most recently Jun 21, 2025

Coldest day

−14°FDec 23, 1990

Wettest day

7.15 inJul 14, 1973

Snowiest day

12.0 inFeb 3, 1903

Hottest year

2024mean 54.6°F

Coldest year

1993mean 48.2°F

Wettest year

199338.36 in

Driest year

195612.63 in

Snowiest season

48.0 in1959-60

Station Harlan County Lake (USC00253595), 2,010 ft elevation, 23.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1894 to October 26, 2026; 89.7% 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 USC00253595.
• 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.