Drought in Kansas, October 1 to 31, 2022

October 1 to 31, 2022 · NWS ICT · 24 events in 24 counties and zones

Drought conditions continued to worsen across the region as rainfall remained below seasonal normals. Exceptional drought (D4) spread further north over most of southern Kansas during the month of October.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 24

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS ICT wrote it up.

Drought conditions continued to worsen across the region as rainfall remained below seasonal normals. Exceptional drought (D4) spread further north over most of southern Kansas during the month of October.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

24 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Labette

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Labette forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.191, -95.298 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Montgomery

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.193, -95.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Chautauqua

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Chautauqua forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.150, -96.245 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Cowley

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Cowley forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.238, -96.837 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Neosho

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Neosho forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.559, -95.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal. Chanute airport only recorded 1.34 inches of rainfall, which is 1.99 inches below normal. This is the fifth consecutive month of below normal rainfall.

Drought, Wilson

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Wilson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.559, -95.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Elk

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Elk forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.454, -96.244 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Harper

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Harper forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.192, -98.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Sumner

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Sumner forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.237, -97.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county, due to rainfall amounts well below normal.

Drought, Allen

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Allen forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.886, -95.301 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had moved into the south half of the county.

Drought, Woodson

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Woodson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.887, -95.740 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had moved into the south half of the county.

Drought, Greenwood

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Greenwood forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.878, -96.233 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had moved into the south half of the county.

Drought, Reno

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Reno forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.953, -98.086 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had moved into the south half of the county.

Drought, Kingman

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Kingman forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.559, -98.136 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county for the first part of the month, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had spread across the entire county.

Drought, Sedgwick

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Sedgwick forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.685, -97.461 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county for the first part of the month, but by the middle of the month, Exceptional drought (D4) had spread across the entire county. Wichita Eisenhower National airport only recorded 0.79 inches of rainfall, which is 2.06 inches below normal. This is the fifth consecutive month of below normal rainfall.

Drought, Butler

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Butler forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.781, -96.839 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the northern half of the county, with Exceptional Drought (D4) across the southern half of the county, due to continued well below normal rainfall.

Drought, Rice

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Rice forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.347, -98.201 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the entire county due to continued well below normal rainfall.

Drought, Barton

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Barton forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.479, -98.756 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) continued across the entire county due to continued well below normal rainfall.

Drought, Russell

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Russell forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.915, -98.762 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Drought (D3) continued across the county, due to continued below normal rainfall.

Drought, Ellsworth

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Ellsworth forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.697, -98.205 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Drought (D3) continued across the southwestern half of the county, due to continued below normal rainfall. Severe drought (D2) was found elsewhere.

Drought, McPherson

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: McPherson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.392, -97.648 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Drought (D3) continued across the southwestern half of the county, due to continued below normal rainfall. Severe drought (D2) was found elsewhere.

Drought, Harvey

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Harvey forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.043, -97.427 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Severe drought (D2) expanded rapidly to Exceptional drought (D4), during the the middle of the month due to continued well below normal rainfall.

Drought, Chase

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Chase forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.302, -96.594 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Moderate drought (D1) rapidly expanded to severe drought (D2) by the end of the month, due to well below normal rainfall across the county.

Drought, Marion

When: October 1, 12:00 AM CST to October 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Marion forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.359, -97.097 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Moderate drought (D1) rapidly expanded to Extreme drought (D3) by the end of the month, due to well below normal rainfall across the county.

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Kansas in 2022 Every state in 2022 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, October 2022

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1060188, 1060189, 1060191, 1060193, 1060195, 1060196, 1060197, 1060198, 1060199, 1060250, 1060253, 1060255, 1060256, 1060260, 1060264, 1060268, 1060270, 1060271, 1060283, 1060291, 1060292, 1060293, 1060296, 1060297.