Barton County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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. Nov 1, 2025Drought, Barton$13.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Though below the monthly average, timely rain fell across the region through the month. This allowed for drought improvements to Moderate (D1) drought by the end of the month. Impacts across the region were largely limited to larger scale agriculture. However, farm and stock ponds saw impacts with ground water levels also falling. Crop loss estimates notated are for fall harvest loses from the summer into the fall.

2. May 4, 2003Tornado$13.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F-4 tornado tracked over the Kansas-Missouri state line and into west central Barton County. The tornado destroyed several farm houses and outbuildings prior to dissipating one mile north of Liberal. Ten injuries and one fatality can be accounted for from this large tornado. Rex Smith age 88, was in his frame house two miles west of Liberal when the tornado approached. He was deceased from flying debris. While this tornado was dissipating, a second tornado had formed one mile east of Liberal. This feature then tracked 23 miles through mainly rural farm land of central and northeast Barton County, and eventually through Cedar, Polk, Hickory, and Dallas counties. Altogether there…

3. May 4, 2003Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F-4 tornado tracked over the Kansas-Missouri state line and into west central Barton County. The tornado destroyed several farm houses and outbuildings prior to dissipating one mile north of Liberal. Ten injuries and one fatality can be accounted for from this large tornado. Rex Smith age 88, was in his frame house two miles west of Liberal when the tornado approached. He was deceased from flying debris. While this tornado was dissipating, a second tornado had formed one mile east of Liberal. This feature then tracked 23 miles through mainly rural farm land of central and northeast Barton County, and eventually through Cedar, Polk, Hickory, and Dallas counties. Altogether there…

4. Dec 13, 2008High Wind, Barton$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph occurred across southeast Kansas into west central Missouri as a powerful low pressure system tracked from the central plains to the Great Lakes. These high winds downed trees and power lines as well as damaged a few roofs across extreme southeast Kansas and west central Missouri.

5. Jan 12, 2007Ice Storm, Barton$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four inches of sleet pack brought down 52 barns and 6 businesses across Barton County. Because the precipitation type was all sleet, only minor tree and power line damage resulted. Several of the barns that were destroyed were housing expensive farm machinery that also experienced major damage. Total loses for the county was estimated at 4.5 million dollars.

6. May 8, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread structural, tree, and power pole damage occurred across the majority of Barton County. The city of Lamar was impacted the greatest with numerous structures sustaining roof damage. A storage building at a lumber store was completely destroyed while the Lamar High School sustained major roof damage, causing rain to flood the gymnasium. Over 2000 residences lost power throughout the county. The community of Liberal had numerous structures that sustained damage, while it was estimated that Golden City had approximately 12 homes with damage.

7. Apr 20, 2025Tornado$3.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-0 tornado touched down in south-central Barton County in Missouri at 2:29 PM on April 20, 2025, tracking northeast through the city of Lamar before finally lifting northeast of Milford at 2:50 PM. The majority of damage from this tornado was in the city of Lamar, where it caused light to moderate damage to around 200 homes and businesses. Eyewitness accounts report a rain-wrapped tornado, and much of the debris field left behind consisted of light debris like leaf litter pressed to multiple sides of impacted structures by the rain. Straight line wind damage was also found to the east of the path in Lamar.

8. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Barton$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulations up to one and a half inches were observed across much of Barton County. The city of Lamar was hit the hardest and widespread power outages occurred for several days. Major tree and power line damage resulted countywide.

9. Aug 1, 2012Drought, Barton$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The U.S Drought Monitor continued to report Extreme Drought (D3) to Exceptional Drought (D4) throughout the month of August. The region started seeing some rainfall by the end of the month. The COOP station near Lamar reported 4.39 of rainfall for the month of August. This is a continuation of the drought that began across the region in June. As a result of the limited rainfall combined with the excessive heat, the USDA Service center in Barton County indicated that crop losses were 75 percent of the spring planting. Many farmers and ranchers reported having to feed hay as pastures stopped growing and became dry through the month which added to operation costs. Monetary crop loss…

10. Dec 13, 2008High Wind, Barton$1.0 million
    National Weather Service narrative

    High winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph occurred across southeast Kansas into west central Missouri as a powerful low pressure system tracked from the central plains to the Great Lakes. These high winds downed trees and power lines as well as damaged a few roofs across extreme southeast Kansas and west central Missouri.

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

118°FJul 18, 1936

All-time low

−28°FFeb 13, 1905

Warmest night

84°FAug 2, 1934

Coldest day

−5°FJan 12, 1912

Wettest day

9.10 inJul 3, 1976

Snowiest day

16.0 inFeb 8, 1980

Hottest year

1938mean 60.9°F

Coldest year

1989mean 53.6°F

Wettest year

199271.02 in

Driest year

195321.45 in

Snowiest season

29.0 in1969-70

Station Lamar 7N (USC00234705), 968 ft elevation, 7.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 95.8% 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 USC00234705.
• 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.