Wallace County

Every recorded tornado

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

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 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.

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 20, 2011Thunderstorm Wind$488,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A small thunderstorm complex produced a long-swath of significant wind and hail damage across south-central into central Wallace county. The damage began near the Wallace-Greeley county border about 13 miles SSW of Sharon Springs, and continued to about 8 miles SSE of Wallace. Approximately 25 irrigation pivots were blown over, numerous grain bins were either damaged or destroyed, utility poles were broken, some outbuildings damaged and one semi-truck blown over. Some residences reported shingle damage and broken winds due to a combination of wind and hail.

2. Dec 29, 2006Winter Storm, Wallace$350,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowfall totals across the county averaged 18-32. Highest totals occurred in a NE-SW band across the county, including the Sharon Springs and Wallace areas where 30-32 was reported. Damage costs are a preliminary combined estimate for both the Dec 20 and Dec 30 storms.

3. Mar 28, 2007Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado began 5 WSW of Tribune and continued into Wallace county, Kansas, crossing the county border near Road 10. EF0 damage occurred in Greeley county. After the tornado crossed into Wallace county, it damaged three unoccupied mobile/modular homes producing EF1 damage. The tornado continued to 3 S of Weskan before dissipating. Other minor damage occurred along the path, however no homes were affected.

4. Aug 26, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Power poles down, 4 buildings at airport heavily damaged.

5. Aug 26, 2002Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Fifteen empty rail cars overturned. Power lines down, grain bins overturned, significant damage to mobile home.

6. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two electric poles snapped, with atleast one more leaning. An old outbuilding, similiar in size to a single car garage, was blown a few feet off its foundation, and an irrigation pivot was overturned.

7. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$81,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An outbuilding in farmyard was completely destroyed. Nearby a machine shed was also destroyed. Nearby a pine tree was snapped.

8. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tops of grain bins were bent inward. In addition the equipment attached to the grain bin was blown to the ground.

9. Apr 2, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$65,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two irrigation pivots were overturned, power lines blown down, dead trees uprooted and minor damage to two farm houses. Time estimated from Doppler radar.

10. Apr 22, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$60,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    As the line of storms moved over the town of Wallace, eight power poles were knocked down near the For Wallace Post Cemetery.

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°FJun 24, 1971

All-time low

−23°FFeb 15, 2021

Warmest night

86°FJul 7, 1897

Coldest day

−4°F2 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

5.35 inMay 22, 1976

Snowiest day

21.0 inJan 26, 2022

Hottest year

1894mean 59.7°F

Coldest year

1924mean 50.3°F

Wettest year

194930.49 in

Driest year

20127.62 in

Snowiest season

62.5 in1979-80

Station Sharon Springs (USC00147397), 3,450 ft elevation, 0.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to August 31, 2026; 87.2% 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 USC00147397.
• 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.