Johnson County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

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.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NE Univ of NE Lincoln (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 25, 2008Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall of 2 to 6 inches in a few hours time caused flooding along Sampson Creek and Turkey Creek which washed out 3 bridges and caused county road damage southwest of Tecumseh. Damage in Johnson county to roads and bridges was estimated at 1 million dollars. The flooding continued into Pawnee county. The flood waters also affected agricultural lowlands.

2. Apr 15, 2006Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado formed about 6 miles west of Wymore at 433 pm CDT (1533 CST), tracked northeast to around 4 miles east of Beatrice where it caused f2 damage, then tracked just south of Adams and crossed into Johnson county 2 miles southeast of Adams, or 4 miles southwest of Sterling, around 515 pm CDT. In Johnson county the tornado tracked another 5 miles before dissipating or lifting 3 miles north of Sterling. This tornado formed from a supercell which then became rain-wrapped taking on a heavy rain (hp) supercell characteristics.In Johnson county the average damage path width was around 150 yards. The tornado caused f1 damage 2 miles northwest of Sterling where some roof and tree…

3. May 23, 1996Flash Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 15 to 18 inches saturated soils throughout the month of May in Johnson County and resulted in flash flooding on the 23rd and the 26th. Damage to bridges and culverts was estimated at $404,000 and crop damage was estimated at $1.58 million.

4. May 6, 2007Flash Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding washed out a county road bridge northwest of Sterling according to Emergency Management. A few county roads were also flooded in the area.

5. Aug 19, 2009Lightning$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike caused around $25,000 worth of damage to computers, radio and dispatch equipment and the phone system at the Sheriff's office in Tecumseh.

6. Jul 20, 2000Thunderstorm Wind$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds in excess of 70 mph tore the shingles off roofs and downed numerous tree limbs and power lines closing roads around Crab Orchard. Two grain bins were blown off their foundation and 2 vehicles were damaged when trees were toppled onto them. The wind was accompanied by small hail which accumulated up to 2 inches deep and many corn and soybean fields received extensive damage. The Johnson County Farm Service Agency reported that approximately 32,000 acres of row crop were affected by the storm.

7. Jun 4, 2015Flash Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Water was reported over some county roads near the town of Sterling.

8. May 15, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$3,000

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

116°FAug 13, 1936

All-time low

−33°FDec 10, 1919

Warmest night

86°FJul 25, 1936

Coldest day

−11°FDec 22, 1989

Wettest day

6.74 inMay 9, 1950

Snowiest day

12.0 inMar 14, 1912

Hottest year

1921mean 56.0°F

Coldest year

1979mean 47.3°F

Wettest year

199350.52 in

Driest year

189514.58 in

Snowiest season

59.2 in2018-19

Station Syracuse (USC00258395), 1,100 ft elevation, 18.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 19, 2026; 99.1% 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 USC00258395.
• 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.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• 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.