Riley County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jun 11, 2008Tornado$66.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down to the southwest of Manahattan on a farm, and first destroyed a large machine shed, and threw a grain cart into an adjacent field. The tornado tracked to the northeast and destroyed several homes that were in the process of being built. Then, the tornado entered the Miller Ranch area of Manhattan, where the EF-4 damage was observed. Fifteen well built homes were completely destroyed. Nearby in the Amherst residential area, approximately thirty homes were damaged. A local newspaper reported that 45 residences in Manhattan were destroyed, 142 were damaged, and 637 were affected by the tornado. Ninety three apartments or duplexes, twenty mobile homes, and ten…

2. Sep 3, 2018Flash Flood$17.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Residents in the city of Keats were being evacuated due to the rapidly rising water on Wildcat Creek. The flooding of Wildcat creek resulted in an estimated 17.2 million dollars in losses to property.

3. Jun 11, 2022Tornado$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two surveys were done by NWS for this damage. It appears that a very short path narrow tornado occurred embedded on the northeast flank of small enhanced downburst that created widespread damaging north to northwest winds. Several homes were heavily damaged with the debris field blown to the northeast or approximately perpendicular to the movement. It appears the tornado was narrow and only 25-50 yards at the widest.

4. Apr 19, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo moved east across Riley county producing strong winds and large hail. Winds reached a speed of 82 mph at the Manhattan airport. The strong winds knocked out power and did widespread damage in Manhattan to many homes and businesses. The Walmart store had severe roof damage that resulted in store closure for several days until repairs could be made. Total damage estimates from Riley county officials were 5 million dollars.

5. Jun 2, 2008Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Softball size hail demolished 98% of the cars parked at the Manhattan Regional Airport. Dents were also noted in the terminal building, and a stone hangar had it's windows blown out. Car dealerships and car rental facilities near the airport also report extreme damage to nearly every vehicle on the lot. Several hundred vehicles in the Manhattan Corporate Technology Park were severely dented by the large hail stones, and nary a car was left without having at least one window smashed. At the Auth-Florence Manufacturing Co. approximtely 250 employee cars were deemed total losses as a result of the hail. The hail between the size of baseballs, near Keats, and softballs, across the…

6. Nov 27, 2005Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado entered Riley county from Geary county 2 miles westsouthwest of Ogden and crossed Fort Riley Army Base. The tornado moved north for approximately one mile in Riley county before dissipating two miles west of Ogden. The tornado caused siding, window, roof, tree, and car damage in the Ellis Heights housing area on the base with 32 homes in all receiving minor damage. The parent thunderstorm was a mini-supercell.

7. Aug 13, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind measuring instrument mounted to the roof of the Air Traffic Control tower at Manhattan Regional Airport measured a 93 mph wind gust. The ASOS station at Manhattan Regional Airport also reported a strong wind gust of 68 mph. In the town of Ogden the windows of a residence were cracked by the force of the wind. No estimation of the wind speed was given by this resident. Kansas State University also sustained some significant damage, as wind damage to Anderson Hall's roof resulted in over a quarter million dollars in repairs. In and around Manhattan, numerous outbuildings were damaged and destroyed. Widespread power line and tree damage was also noted across the city,…

8. Jun 10, 1998Hail$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two inch hail dented numerous vehicles, including 191 cars at a single dealership. The hail also shattered several windows on a greenhouse at Kansas State University.

9. Jun 19, 2001Lightning$370,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck a house and started a fire that destroyed the structure.

10. May 6, 2007Flood$338,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Water two feet deep running over Reservation Dr. near Keats with some home affected and county roads closed. K-114 near Ogden has water flowing across all four lanes. The town of Ogden had substantial flooding with over 30 structures damaged and a number of families evacuated. Wildcat Creek in out of it's banks in Manhattan with floating metal trash dumpsters noted. Some apartments near the creek are being evacuated. Mobile homes near the creek also are flooded. At least 93 residences in Manhattan were affected.

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

115°FAug 19, 2023

All-time low

−21°F2 times, most recently Feb 20, 2025

Warmest night

85°FSep 1, 2011

Coldest day

0°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

4.80 inAug 23, 2004

Hottest year

2012mean 58.3°F

Coldest year

2008mean 52.6°F

Wettest year

201942.16 in

Driest year

200220.95 in

Station Manhattan Asos (USW00003936), 1,048 ft elevation, 4.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1960 to October 26, 2026; 99.3% 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 USW00003936.
• 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.