Wichita County

Every recorded tornado

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

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. Dec 29, 2006Winter Storm, Wichita$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snowfall totals across the county averaged 15-20. Damage costs are a preliminary combined estimate for both the Dec 20 and Dec 30 storms.

2. May 16, 1999Hail$800,000
3. May 16, 1999Hail$800,000
4. Dec 15, 2021Wildfire, Wichita$550,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds knocked over power lines near the towns of Marienthal and Lydia, sparking two large fires. The fire near Marienthal began around 14:30 PM CST burning fields and one home. The Marienthal fire burned approximately 1200 acres and was put out around 22:30 PM CST. The Lydia fire began around 13:50 PM CST burning fields, two homes, and several vehicles over a span of 8300 acres. This fire injured one non-hospitalized person and another person died the next day due to burns and a collapsed lung from protecting his home. The Lydia fire was extinguished around 22:06 PM CST.

5. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$285,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage from the straight-line winds were surveyed along N County Road 20 from north of E County Road J to just south of E County Road L. Damage included three irrigation pivots turned over, the top of a mature tree snapped off, the top of two grain bins was damage along with augers going to five grain bins being damaged, the sliding doors being blown in on two metal machine sheds and another sliding door being blown out, along with a couple sheets of tin on the roof being blown loose and a hole being punched through the side of one of them, minor gutter damage to a house, a small shed was completely destroyed and single car garage was blown completely off its foundation.

6. Jun 22, 1999Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large tornado (F3) destroyed a farmstead. The house was nearly flattened by the tornado, and a tractor and grain combine/harvester were rolled several hundred feet. Tornado moved from East to West.

7. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$120,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage was reported along E County Road H from the intersection of N County Road 19 to N County Road 20. Damage included an small, old grain bin being blown off its foundation, a pole barn style garage being completely destroyed, the wooden cross member and top of an electric line being broken off, a small shed being completely destroyed, the roof of a machine shed nearly completely removed, and two other pole barn style machine sheds being completely destroyed. Near the location of one of the machine sheds an antenna tower was bent, leaning against a building next to the tower.

8. Jul 17, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A feed yard northwest of Leoti, KS suffered damage from strong thunderstorm outflows. About 20% of the feed warehouse roof was removed. Two smaller wood-frame metal-skin sheds were heavily damaged. Four by eight foot hay bales were blown a short distance. Three irrigation pivots just south of the feed yard were overturned. All debris was blown from SSW to NNE.

9. Jul 20, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$70,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In the morning of the 20th, widespread showers with some imbedded storm cells moved southeast through eastern Colorado. During the afternoon, a storm on the southern end of that same storm cluster intensified and caused extreme straight-line wind damage in West Central Kansas. A NWS Storm Survey team was sent out and determine maximum wind gusts to be 115 mph. Some of the more significant damage included four sheds that were completely destroyed, two that were blown off their foundation, and two pieces of equipment that were pushed by the wind. These storms also produced hail up to lime size.||Later in the evening another round of thunderstorms moved through West Central Kansas.…

10. May 26, 1996Tornado$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    TORNADO DAMAGED FARM BUILDINGS. POWER LINES DOWN. TREES UPROOTED. WINDOWS BROKEN IN CARS. ONE HORSE CARRIED AND DROPPED BY THE TORNADO DIED THE NEXT DAY.

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°F2 times, most recently Jul 28, 2026

All-time low

−25°F2 times, most recently Feb 15, 2021

Warmest night

78°F3 times, most recently Jul 20, 2010

Coldest day

−5°FFeb 5, 1989

Wettest day

6.46 inJun 4, 1932

Snowiest day

19.0 inOct 26, 1997

Hottest year

2012mean 55.9°F

Coldest year

1993mean 48.7°F

Wettest year

191533.39 in

Driest year

19347.09 in

Snowiest season

63.5 in1923-24

Station Tribune 1W (USC00148235), 3,634 ft elevation, 23.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 99.7% 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 USC00148235.
• 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.