Pottawatomie County

Every recorded tornado

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

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 4, 2005Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado occurred at the Elbo lake community east of Manhattan. Many large trees were damaged or blown over...powerlines were downed...a boat blown across the lake and at least four buildings sustained damage...primarily from trees falling on them.

2. Apr 19, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$227,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds damaged many homes and residences in Wamego.

3. Jul 15, 1998Lightning$218,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning ignited a fire which completely destroyed a house and its contents.

4. May 24, 2007Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Near Green Valley road at approximately the 4200 block on highway 24...drainage ditches full and spilling over onto the roadways. Water approaching highway 24 about 1/4 mile further east as well. County roads were flooded and some damaged. Some homes damaged by flood waters in the lake Elbo area.

5. May 26, 2007Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water around one foot deep flowing over several streets in the city of Wamego. Nearly 5 inches of rain fell. One intersection noted was 99th and Lincoln. A number of homes and garages were flooded. Rural roads were water covered with some damaged. A section of railroad track was also washed out.

6. Oct 2, 2005Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Highway 24 under at least 6 inches of fast flowing water.

7. Apr 10, 1997Heavy Snow, Pottawatomie$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A late season moisture laden snow storm dumped 4 to 8 inches of accumulation across North Central and Northeast kansas generally north and west of Manhattan or along and north of a line from Abilene in Dickenson County to Baileyville in Nemaha County. Locally heavier amounts fell in some areas, especially near the Nebraska boarder where some locations received a foot or more. Some specific accumulations in inches included Marysville with 8 to 12 , Axtell 11, Belleville 10, Hanover 10, Centralia 9 1/2, Frankfort 9 and Concordia 8.The storm resulted in several fatal traffic accidents. Two passengers of another pickup truck died when the vehicle collided head-on with a semi-truck 3…

8. Jun 4, 2005Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Over 6 inches of fast flowing water across several roads in the area.

9. Sep 23, 2005Flood, Pottawatomie$90,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to six inches of heavy rain from overnight thunderstorms brought extensive flooding and flash flooding along the Kansas River Valley from near St. Marys to Lawrence.The 5.61 inches of rain that fell in Topeka broke the one-day rainfall record for the city. Sewers backed up and basements were flooded in some homes within the city. A few cars were found floating in the flooded streets. Water rescues were made on stranded motorists by firefighters just northwest of Topeka. Numerous roads were flooded by deep ponded water and some were closed by water up to six feet deep. The Perry High School football stadium was flooded by six inches of rain during the morning hours and school…

10. Jun 9, 2005Heavy Rain$80,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A four inch downpour brought small stream and urban flooding with some sandbagging along Blackjack Creek on the west side of St. George.

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

114°F3 times, most recently Jul 13, 1954

All-time low

−26°FJan 4, 1947

Warmest night

88°FAug 15, 1936

Coldest day

−11°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

6.93 inAug 13, 1946

Snowiest day

24.0 inFeb 27, 1900

Hottest year

1946mean 59.8°F

Coldest year

2008mean 51.7°F

Wettest year

197354.61 in

Driest year

195219.35 in

Snowiest season

53.5 in1898-99

Station Wamego 4 W (USC00148563), 1,166 ft elevation, 3.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1900 to October 27, 2026; 96.3% 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 USC00148563.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.