Shawnee County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Shawnee County: 18.
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. Oct 22, 1996Heavy Snow, Shawnee$3.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An early season winter storm produced a record breaking heavy wet snow in most of northeast and east central Kansas. Accumulations ranged from 3 to 8 inches at most locations east of a line from Marysville in northwest Marshall County to Herrington in extreme southeast Dickinson County. A few places received 9 to 11 inches. Scattered thunderstorms locally enhanced the snowfall rates, causing amounts to vary greatly over short distances. The National Weather Service at the Billard Airport in Topeka recorded 8.0 inches which set a new twenty-four hour and monthly snowfall record for October. Some other specific snowfall totals included Alta Vista 11, Council Grove 8 1/2, Lawrence 8,…

2. May 7, 2007Flash Flood$3.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Shawnee county dispatch reported water rescues were being conducted along the Shunganunga Creek. Water entering residences south of Washburn University. Almost 500 water rescues were completed in the city of Topeka.

3. Oct 1, 2005Flash Flood$2.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water rushing over the road as deep as mailboxes in the 3800 block of Tecumseh Rd.

4. Oct 1, 2005Flash Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A spotter reported Halfday Creek was out of it's banks and water was rushing at least 6 inches deep over several roads including 50th St.

5. May 7, 2007Flood$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Most homes in the town of Wakarusa inundated with flood waters from the Wakarusa River. Water rescues of 22 residents stranded on their rooftops were conducted by the fire department. The rescues were hampered by floating propane tanks. Numerous roads in the county were closed by flood waters. Topeka city schools and some surrounding schools canceled classes. 500 water rescues were made in Topeka...300 along the Shunganunga Creek alone. The Rossville nursing home evacuated it's residents as a caution of flooding due to Cross Creek. Lake Sherwood, southwest of Topeka, reported water three feet above the emergency spillway. Numerous county roads were closed due to the flooding.…

6. Apr 19, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A bow echo moved across Shawnee county and produced high winds in excess of 60 mph. The winds did extensive damage to many homes and businesses mainly in the northern half of Topeka. Preliminary damage estimates from officials in Shawnee county totaled 2 million dollars.

7. Oct 2, 2005Flood, Shawnee$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A record breaking flood event occurred October 1st into October 3rd over a part of Northeast Kansas. Intense rainfall during the late evening of October 1st through the early morning of October 2nd brought six to twelve inches of rain to southern Pottawatomie, northern Shawnee, and much of Jefferson and Jackson counties. An unofficial report of 14.9 inches of rain was recorded on the north edge of Hoyt in southern Jackson County. Fortunately, no deaths were reported but a total of 9 injuries occurred. Damage totaled in the millions of dollars to personal property as well as to transportation, sewer and water distribution infrastructures. The governor declared a state of emergency…

8. Jun 12, 2004Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds moved across Topeka doing considerable damage. Numerous large tree branches were blown down. A K-DOT communications tower was blown down onto an apartment complex, but no injuries were reported. But significant damage was done to the apartment complex. Downed tree limbs damaged power lines and power transformers resulting in power outages to 26 thousand Topeka residents. On the outskirts of Topeka crops suffered considerable damage. Although 64 knots was officially measured at Topeka Billard Airport there were unofficial reports of much higher gusts across the city. It was the worst storm to hit Topeka in a number of years.

9. Mar 8, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong downburst winds damaged 40 cars at a dealership in Topeka. Roof damage was also noted at the dealership salesroom.

10. Jan 29, 2002Winter Storm, Shawnee$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    A major winter storm struck all of north central...northeast and east central Kansas in late January. Freezing rain mixed at times with sleet occurred across east central Kansas from the early evening of January 29 into the morning of January 31. The freezing rain accumulated as much as an inch and a half of glaze which caused considerable power line and tree damage. Many residents remained without power well into February. Several buildings collapsed under the weight of the ice doing considerable damage to the contents. A boat marina at Lake Perry collapsed under the weight of the ice and damaged or destroyed 19 boats. Northeast Kansas received mostly snow from the night of the…

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

112°FAug 2, 2011

All-time low

−26°FDec 23, 1989

Warmest night

85°FJul 14, 1980

Coldest day

−7°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

5.61 inSep 23, 2005

Snowiest day

15.2 inJan 9, 1993

Hottest year

2012mean 59.8°F

Coldest year

1979mean 51.5°F

Wettest year

197360.89 in

Driest year

196319.07 in

Snowiest season

44.4 in1959-60

Station Topeka Asos (USW00013996), 880 ft elevation, 5.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00013996.
• 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.