Cass County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Cass County: 3.
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.

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.

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. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Cass$6.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of northwest, northern and central Missouri from late Tuesday, January 29th, until Thursday, January 31st. Ice accumulations of over an inch were observed from the Kansas City metropolitan area, east and north through Moberly Missouri. At one point 409,504 total customers were without electrical power in the CWA, with some residents without power up to two weeks. For the Kansas City area, the ice storm was ranked as the worst ever. Further north across northern Missouri, heavy snow fell generally along and north of a line, from St. Joseph to Trenton to Kirksville. Snow accumulations ranged from 8 to 14 inches.

2. May 9, 2003Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado touched down 1 mile southeast of Freeman with F0 to F1 damage along a three mile track to 2 miles north northeast of Freeman where it lifted. Several RV's were flipped over in a RV park with one person injured. Tornado also did substantial damage to empty fuel tanks at a fuel farm, adjacent to the RV park.

3. May 19, 2004Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall overnight with up to 8 inches in the area. 22 homes were evacuated in southern Freeman and 11 more families were evacuated from Lake Annette.

4. Feb 15, 2019Winter Weather, Cass$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Another pile up occurred on I-49 between Belton and Peculiar. Most injuries in this accident were considered moderate and non-life threatening.

5. Oct 4, 1998Flash Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms containing very heavy rainfall over West Central Missouri on October 4th resulted in several episodes of major flash flooding. The most deadly and costly flooding occurred in Jackson County where nine people lost their lives on the evening of October 4th. The Kansas City metropolitan area experienced the worst of the flooding which was similar in historical context as the devastating flash flood in September 1977. Several episodes of heavy rain producing thunderstorms commenced on the morning of October 4th and continued into early afternoon. In Lee's Summit, up to 10 people had to be rescued from a flooded apartment complex and the depth of the water on 3rd St…

6. May 4, 2003Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado briefly touched down at Highway 7 and County Road Z interchange. No damage and was reported by storm chaser. Tornado touched back down just north of the interchange, and then continued intermittently for 4 miles to the Johnson county line around Latour, near the inersection of Routes 2 and 131.

7. Aug 21, 2003Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two mobile homes destroyed with two injuries. One of these injured died as a result of their injuries on September 3, 2003. One house had major damage with one injury. Numerous trees down or damaged along with outbuildings.

8. Nov 12, 2018Winter Weather, Cass$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   After 1 to 3 inches of snow fell across the region area roads became very icy, causing numerous vehicle accidents. One such accident that resulted in a fatality occurred along I-49 (Mile Marker 160.2) in Cass County near the town of Archie around 10:00 am, when a vehicle slid off the road, struck a guardrail, and came back onto the road, where it was subsequently hit by a 18 wheeler. The driver of the vehicle died on the scene and the passenger was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. ||Missouri Highway Patrol Accident Report: https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/HP68/AccidentDetailsAction?ACC_RPT_NUM=180680656 .

9. May 4, 2020Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds of around 70 to 80 mph occurred in Garden City as a strong, decaying thunderstorm moved into that area. While the storm was severe, the winds in and around Garden City were somewhat unique to the event and the damage across the city indicated some enhanced winds, probably associated with a significant downburst. While the official estimate is around 70 to 80 mph winds, it's plausible that faster winds were experienced in that area with this event solely based on the damage.

10. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tornado crossed from Bates county into Cass county...6 miles south-southwest of Creighton at 2005 CST. It moved northeast and exited Cass county into Henry county at 2007 CST...2 miles south of Creighton. F1 damage to several structures was noted.

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

114°FJul 13, 1954

All-time low

−15°FFeb 16, 2021

Warmest night

83°FJul 14, 1954

Coldest day

−2°FFeb 15, 2021

Wettest day

5.66 inJul 11, 2006

Snowiest day

11.0 inMar 3, 1952

Hottest year

2012mean 58.9°F

Coldest year

1951mean 52.7°F

Wettest year

195158.13 in

Driest year

195321.41 in

Station Olathe Johnson County Ind Airport (USW00093909), 1,055 ft elevation, 25.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 26, 2026; 97.4% 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 USW00093909.
• 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.