Trego County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Trego County: 5.
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 9, 2005Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three semi-trucks were rolled when the tornado crossed Interstate 70 east of Ogallah. One U.S. mail truck rolled twice.

2. Mar 16, 1998Ice Storm, Trego$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice storm occurred with anywhere from 1/2 inch of ice accumulation on roadways to several inches of ice accumulations on objects such as radio towers. Every radio station in the area had damage due to the ice accumulation. There was one report of a chunk of ice falling completely through a cab of a pickup. Fortunately...no one was inside at the time. KRPH's 800 foot radio tower completely fell down with a reported 6 inches of ice accumulation. 1450 power poles came down across the area. Power was out for 4 to 6 days in some places. A USDA weather related disaster was declared.

3. Mar 16, 1998Ice Storm, Trego$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice storm occurred with anywhere from 1/2 inch of ice accumulation on roadways to several inches of ice accumulations of objects. Every radio station in the area had damage due to the ice accumulation and ice falling off the towers. There was one report of a chunk of ice falling completely through the cab of a pickup. Fortunately...no one was inside at the time. KRPH's 800 foot radio tower completely fell down with a reported 6 inches of accumulation. 1450 power poles came down across the area. Power was out as long as 6 days in some places. A U.S.D.A weather related disaster was declared. Over 65 utility crews were moved in from as far away as Missouri.

4. May 24, 1998Hail$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   All of the west windows broken out of a house. The hail was part of a swath 7 miles wide that tracked along a line from the Gove county border from section 19-14-25 to the southeast corner of the county. Over 50,000 acres of native grass were mowed down.

5. Oct 16, 1998Tornado$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado marched on into Ellis county, producing a 26 mile long path.

6. Apr 14, 1999High Wind, Trego$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   After a strong upper system dumped 1 to 3 inches of rain across a large part of the area, the associated deep cyclone rippled across the area. A tightening gradient and downward mixing of strong winds aloft, brought widespread high wind to the area. There were at least two injuries from the wind blowing vehicles off the road. Numerous overturned tractor trailers littered the area. Large trees were uprooted in many communities and missing shingles reports were quite common.

7. Apr 8, 1999High Wind, Trego$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong low pressure center generated a strong southwest to west wind across the area. A roof was blown off the Ogallah post office in Trego county. Stronger winds reported were 59 mph at the Hays airport and 56 mph at the Dodge City airport. Similar speeds were common across the area during the afternoon.

8. Jul 13, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$8,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   windows blown out of a house...corrals and outbuildings damaged north of Ogallah.

9. Jul 13, 1996Thunderstorm Wind$3,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   garage door blown off

10. Jun 23, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$2,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Camper was overturned but there were no injuries. Location was at Cedar Bluff reservoir.

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°FJul 24, 1936

All-time low

−25°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1989

Warmest night

80°F6 times, most recently Jul 15, 2022

Coldest day

−8°FJan 6, 1912

Wettest day

7.40 inJul 29, 1928

Snowiest day

15.0 in3 times, most recently Oct 26, 1997

Hottest year

1910mean 57.8°F

Coldest year

1985mean 50.3°F

Wettest year

199337.25 in

Driest year

20228.70 in

Snowiest season

76.5 in1957-58

Station Wakeeney (USC00148495), 2,445 ft elevation, 0.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 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 USC00148495.
• 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.