Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas
42,167 severe thunderstorm warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.
- Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
- 42,167
- Busiest year
- 20261,635 severe thunderstorm warnings
- Average year
- 1,028over 41 years on file
Over time
By year
Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with the weather.
By month of the year
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
From 2008 to 2025, 81% of hail, wind and damage reports in Kansas fell inside a severe thunderstorm warning issued on average 24 minutes before, and 47% of the severe thunderstorm warnings had no report inside them.
Severe thunderstorm warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1,489 | 833 | 44% | 2,188 | 82% | 23 min |
| 2009 | 1,202 | 711 | 41% | 1,757 | 80% | 23 min |
| 2010 | 1,171 | 680 | 42% | 1,682 | 82% | 24 min |
| 2011 | 1,445 | 896 | 38% | 2,303 | 82% | 23 min |
| 2012 | 782 | 449 | 43% | 1,252 | 77% | 21 min |
| 2013 | 1,066 | 602 | 44% | 1,386 | 82% | 23 min |
| 2014 | 1,162 | 680 | 41% | 1,624 | 83% | 24 min |
| 2015 | 1,247 | 610 | 51% | 1,315 | 80% | 21 min |
| 2016 | 1,513 | 673 | 56% | 1,629 | 80% | 23 min |
| 2017 | 1,293 | 687 | 47% | 1,741 | 82% | 23 min |
| 2018 | 1,362 | 663 | 51% | 1,582 | 80% | 24 min |
| 2019 | 1,606 | 774 | 52% | 1,816 | 83% | 26 min |
| 2020 | 888 | 465 | 48% | 1,162 | 85% | 26 min |
| 2021 | 887 | 458 | 48% | 1,209 | 78% | 24 min |
| 2022 | 858 | 398 | 54% | 1,005 | 77% | 23 min |
| 2023 | 1,347 | 679 | 50% | 1,773 | 83% | 25 min |
| 2024 | 1,523 | 790 | 48% | 2,187 | 84% | 23 min |
| 2025 | 1,253 | 602 | 52% | 1,561 | 83% | 25 min |
Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.
Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Ford County1,250
- Butler County1,225
- Sherman County1,210
- Finney County1,175
- Sedgwick County1,158
- Thomas County1,134
- Logan County1,106
- Cheyenne County1,050
- Sumner County1,041
- Rawlins County984
- Gray County981
- Cowley County969
- Hodgeman County958
- Reno County950
- Pottawatomie County944
- Wabaunsee County944
- Wallace County942
- Riley County910
- Ness County887
- Smith County883
- Pawnee County877
- Gove County869
- Sheridan County863
- Clark County862
- Jewell County845
- Kiowa County844
- Edwards County838
- Shawnee County826
- Meade County822
- Osage County811
- Osborne County801
- Decatur County800
- Kearny County795
- Phillips County790
- Rush County785
- Washington County783
- Dickinson County769
- Lyon County769
- Johnson County761
- Ellis County754
65 more counties
- McPherson County753
- Russell County753
- Barton County730
- Clay County729
- Marion County727
- Greenwood County712
- Kingman County710
- Barber County709
- Marshall County709
- Cloud County708
- Hamilton County708
- Ellsworth County702
- Pratt County702
- Geary County696
- Harvey County696
- Jackson County696
- Graham County693
- Trego County692
- Republic County672
- Comanche County671
- Rooks County668
- Scott County668
- Lane County665
- Stafford County651
- Morris County650
- Norton County640
- Grant County635
- Harper County632
- Rice County632
- Stanton County629
- Mitchell County628
- Leavenworth County623
- Greeley County621
- Haskell County621
- Wichita County619
- Stevens County615
- Ottawa County614
- Lincoln County608
- Jefferson County607
- Crawford County601
- Douglas County598
- Seward County594
- Wyandotte County591
- Miami County584
- Nemaha County584
- Saline County583
- Cherokee County571
- Elk County555
- Franklin County550
- Chase County540
- Montgomery County540
- Chautauqua County529
- Morton County525
- Coffey County523
- Wilson County521
- Bourbon County519
- Labette County500
- Neosho County500
- Doniphan County454
- Anderson County451
- Atchison County449
- Brown County418
- Linn County406
- Woodson County401
- Allen County378
The latest severe thunderstorm warnings
The most recent on file, newest first.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 2:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Labette | 35 min |
| Sep 20, 1:42 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | McPherson, Saline | 48 min |
| Sep 20, 1:15 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Butler, Sedgwick | 30 min |
| Sep 20, 12:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sedgwick | 46 min |
| Sep 19, 9:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Wichita | 43 min |
| Sep 19, 8:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC | Finney, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Kearny | 45 min |
| Sep 19, 8:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Marion | 26 min |
| Sep 19, 8:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Greeley, Logan, Wallace, Wichita | 68 min |
| Sep 19, 8:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX | Atchison, Doniphan | 50 min |
| Sep 19, 8:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Sherman, Thomas, Wallace | 23 min |
| Sep 19, 8:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX | Doniphan | 44 min |
| Sep 19, 7:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Greeley, Wallace | 32 min |
Nearby
Sources
National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.