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Atchison County, Kansas severe weather history spans 270 recorded events between 1951 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 48.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,965 nationally and #104 in Kansas.
270
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
10
Direct injuries
$27.1M
Property damage
The record
What the Atchison County, Kansas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Atchison County, Kansas severe weather history averages 3.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 85 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 44 events fall before 1990 and 226 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $26.7M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Atchison County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 131 | 0 | $133K | 2.75 | 1961–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 81 | 0 | $65K | 72 | 1956–2025 |
| Tornado | 22 | 0 | $26.7M | F3 | 1951–2019 |
| Flash Flood | 18 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2001–2019 |
| Flood | 16 | 0 | $200K | 0 | 2007–2019 |
| Lightning | 1 | 0 | $22K | 0 | 2000–2000 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2007–2007 |
Decade by decade
Atchison County, Kansas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
25 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 17 touched down inside it and 8 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984-04-26 | EF3 | 0 | 9 | 32.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1967-06-11 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 43.9 mi | Crossed in |
| 1965-04-10 | EF3 | 0 | 11 | 23.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1959-05-18 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 1956-04-02 | EF3 | 0 | 4 | 127.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1993-05-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1991-04-26 | EF2 | 0 | 2 | 25.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1979-10-18 | EF2 | 0 | 5 | 54.1 mi | Crossed in |
| 1974-03-07 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 108.4 mi | Crossed in |
| 1971-05-18 | EF2 | 0 | 6 | 55.4 mi | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Atchison County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 1984 | Tornado | 0 | 9 | $25.0M | |
| Oct 22, 1979 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
The tornado formed west of Arrington near Highway K116 moved north along the Delware River bottom crossing the river 0.5 miles west of Muscotah, then moved northeast through open country before dissipating five miles west of Huron near the county lake. The Tornado was not on the ground continuously but bounced up and down leaving many areas undamaged. At least four farmsteads sustained significant damage along with many trees and numerous power poles and cable. No injures or deaths were reported.
The gauge in Leavenworth, Kansas reached 31.30 feet (2nd place at the time). Some resources were secured or moved off the base at Fort Leavenworth since some of the base was covered with water. The river remained in flood into the middle part of May. Note: The dollar value assigned to the damages is likely not accurate, as the full extent of the damage is unknown.
Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in St. Joseph, Missouri reached 32.12 feet on March 22 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Buchanan County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Local fields were also submerged, which delayed the growing season in the region, but several roads were washed away across Atchison County, and I-29 from St. Joseph northward to the Iowa/Missouri border was closed until mid May. Note: The dollar valued assigned to this event is likely inaccurate as a full tally of the extent of the physical damages is unknown. The Missouri River remained in flood through the rest of the month, into April.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
16,208
Population (ACS)
$146K
Median home value
19
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Jun 20, 2019 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, FLOODING,LANDSLIDES,AND MUDSLIDES | DR |
| Jul 20, 2015 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Sep 23, 2011 | Flood | FLOODING | DR |
| Jun 25, 2011 | Flood | FLOODING | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Atchison County, Kansas?
270 events are on record between 1951 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $27.1M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Atchison County?
Hail, with 131 recorded events — 48.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Atchison County?
25 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 17 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Atchison County?
19 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Atchison County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Atchison County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Atchison County as very low risk, placing it in the 16 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Atchison 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
- Anderson County 407
- Barber County 742
- Allen County 438
- Barton County 1,099
- Bourbon County 446
- Brown County 460
Cite this page
“Atchison County, Kansas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/kansas/atchison-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.