Live
Active alerts for this county
Heat Advisory
Saline; McPherson; Marion; Chase; Reno; Harvey; Butler; Greenwood; Woodson; Allen; Kingman; Sedgwick; Harper; Sumner; Cowley; Elk; Wilson; Neosho; Chautauqua; Montgomery; Labette
Sedgwick County, Kansas severe weather history spans 2,893 recorded events between 1950 and 2026. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 47.9% of all recorded events. It ranks #1 nationally and #1 in Kansas.
2,893
Recorded events
16
Direct deaths
468
Direct injuries
$1.3B
Property damage
The record
What the Sedgwick County, Kansas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Sedgwick County, Kansas severe weather history averages 38.1 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 904 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 379 events fall before 1990 and 2,514 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Sedgwick County, Kansas record is tornado, responsible for 13 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $932.5M in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Sedgwick County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 1,386 | 0 | $302.2M | 7.75 | 1955–2026 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,112 | 0 | $60.0M | 100 | 1955–2026 |
| Flash Flood | 127 | 1 | $6.5M | 0 | 1998–2025 |
| Flood | 93 | 0 | $105K | 0 | 2007–2025 |
| Tornado | 90 | 13 | $932.5M | F5 | 1950–2026 |
| Heavy Rain | 61 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2008–2024 |
| Lightning | 23 | 2 | $2.7M | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2010–2010 |
Decade by decade
Sedgwick County, Kansas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
92 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 86 touched down inside it and 6 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-04-26 | EF5 | 17 | 225 | 46.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1999-05-03 | EF4 | 6 | 150 | 24.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1969-06-23 | EF4 | 0 | 6 | 8.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-04-29 | EF3 | 0 | 3 | 12.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2015-05-06 | EF3 | 0 | 1 | 16.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2012-04-14 | EF3 | 0 | 38 | 13.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1991-05-16 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 20.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1973-05-26 | EF3 | 0 | 1 | 4.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1965-09-03 | EF3 | 0 | 27 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1965-05-13 | EF3 | 0 | 10 | 62.5 mi | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Sedgwick County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 1999 | Tornado | PECK | 6 | 150 | $140.0M |
| Apr 26, 1991 | Tornado | 4 | 75 | $250.0M | |
| May 26, 1973 | Tornado | 3 | 0 | $0 | |
| Jun 5, 1996 | Lightning | WICHITA | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Sep 12, 2008 | Flash Flood | VALLEY CENTER | 1 | 1 | $7K |
| Jun 19, 1992 | Hail | 0 | 59 | $0 | |
| Apr 15, 2012 | Tornado | HAYSVILLE | 0 | 38 | $500.0M |
| Sep 4, 1965 | Tornado | 0 | 27 | $2.5M |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Widespread heavy rains of 8 to 10 inches caused flooding of numerous county roads across Northern Sedgwick County. One fatality occurred to the south of the town of Sedgwick, near the 11200 block of North West, when a stalled motorist apparently attempted to flee his vehicle and was swept into the ditch by the fast moving water and drowned.
Significant damage to homes, many of them had a number missing outer walls. Seven homes were missing two to four walls, one home was completely destroyed. The trees associated with house completely stripped to nothing, this was also the case at many other locations along the path. ||A mobile home park to south had seventy five percent of the homes uninhabitable. Approximately twenty five percent were reduced to rubble. ||Significant damage was also noted at McConnell AFB. Many of the hangars sustained damage. One hangar in particular that was owned by Spirit Aerosystems sustained a considerable amount of damage.||Several apartments and businesses also had damage like roofs being torn off and windows blown out.
Two supercell thunderstorms left a destructive swath of very large hail across portions of the county. The swath of hail was approximately 5 miles wide and 15 miles long, stretching from northwest of Goddard, Kansas through the western and southern half of Wichita, Kansas to near Rose Hill, Kansas. Hail as large as softball and grapefruit size pounded roofs and cars along its path with over 35,000 claims turned into insurance agencies. The hail made roofs look like a war zone, with holes big enough for people to stick their heads through. Cars and golf courses were pot marked with large dents. Some of the hail came through roofs, including the terminal at the Mid Continent Airport in Wichita. Three commercial airliners were damaged and had to be towed to hangers for repairs. The National Weather Service in Wichita suffered damage to its vehicles, including one hail dent that was almost 10 inches across. One such hailstone 2 miles west of the National Weather Service office broke the state record for diameter, measuring 7.75 inches across (see separate entry).
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively High
FEMA NRI risk rating
528,226
Population (ACS)
$203K
Median home value
18
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Oct 20, 2016 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| May 24, 2012 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Sep 30, 2009 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Feb 1, 2008 | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Wichita 583
- Derby 222
- Maize 198
- Eastborough 178
- Clearwater 147
- Goddard 140
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Sedgwick County, Kansas?
2,893 events are on record between 1950 and 2026, causing 16 direct deaths and $1.3B in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Sedgwick County?
Hail, with 1,386 recorded events — 47.9% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Sedgwick County?
92 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 86 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Sedgwick County?
18 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Sedgwick County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Sedgwick County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Sedgwick County as relatively high risk, placing it in the 97 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Sedgwick County, Kansas severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Scott County 685
- Seward County 711
- Saline County 812
- Shawnee County 1,457
- Russell County 1,079
- Sheridan County 593
Cite this page
“Sedgwick County, Kansas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/kansas/sedgwick-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.