Pratt County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Pratt County: 3.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 7, 2002Tornado$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This very large tornado moved southeast across much of Pratt. Damage was rated a STRONG F2. There were 14 homes destroyed, 15 with major damage and 230 with minor damage. Over 50 Pivot sprinklers were damaged or destroyed. Despite the very heavy damage, there were no injuries thanks in part to adequate warnings.

2. Oct 8, 2018Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall and runoff caused extensive flooding along the Ninnescah river flooding the city park, Memorial lake and the Kansas Department of Wildlife offices and rearing ponds. At the lake, several vehicles, tents and campers were inundated by flood waters. At the fish hatchery at the KDWP offices, many of the ponds were breached washing fingerling fish and brood fish out into the swollen river.

3. Aug 2, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   8 train cars blown off the tracks while the train was moving from intense thunderstorm winds. One family was nearly "run over" by the derailing train cars. One boxcar ended up about 10 feet away from their vehicle. Winds were nearly 125 mph.

4. Sep 27, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$850,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Microburst occurred...centered about 4 miles north of Pratt. The impact point was 4 miles north of Highway 54 and 1/2 mile east of Highway 281. Area extended 3 miles northwest through southwest with the greatest damage at the Pratt airport. Five buildings had considerable damage...7 with major damage and 18 had minor damage. Debris was carried for miles past the impact point. A John Deere tractor had a 16 foot long 2x4 impaled into the engine compartment. Three sprinkler irrigation systems were destroyed.

5. May 7, 2002Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado moved in from Kiowa county. No injuries due to adequate warning.

6. May 29, 2013Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three sprinkler irrigation systems were overturned by the high wind in the vicinity.

7. Sep 27, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two irrigation sprinklers were overturned.

8. Aug 2, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   3 foot diameter tree blown down, three grain bins destroyed or heavily damaged.

9. Apr 2, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several pivot irrigation systems were overturned by the wind.

10. Jun 5, 2008Tornado$65,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    This relatively brief tornado was moving at about 60 mph and turned a pivot irrigation sprinkler over.

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°FJul 27, 2011

All-time low

−20°FFeb 1, 1951

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Jul 4, 1994

Coldest day

−3°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

7.77 inSep 26, 1973

Snowiest day

15.5 inFeb 21, 2013

Hottest year

2006mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1979mean 54.1°F

Wettest year

200742.38 in

Driest year

193614.17 in

Snowiest season

51.5 in1992-93

Station Hudson (USC00143847), 1,867 ft elevation, 32.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1951 to September 29, 2026; 95.4% 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 USC00143847.
• 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.