99
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
41
Direct injuries
$31.5M
Property damage
Tornado in Finney County, Kansas: 99 recorded events between 1950 and 2024. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #51 nationally and #4 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Finney County, Kansas: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Finney County is the 1990s, when 32 of the county's 99 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Finney County archive, tornado makes up 7.5% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #51 for this hazard and #4 within Kansas, putting it in the 98.3 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for tornado in Finney County with 55 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967-06-23 | EF3 | 35.6 mi | 10 yd | Crossed in |
| 1995-05-16 | EF3 | 10.0 mi | 800 yd | Touched down here |
| 1962-06-16 | EF3 | 34.6 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1951-05-20 | EF3 | 12.8 mi | 900 yd | Crossed in |
| 2009-04-18 | EF2 | 9.0 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 1978-05-30 | EF2 | 31.9 mi | 17 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-05-18 | EF2 | 117.2 mi | 50 yd | Crossed in |
| 1973-06-28 | EF2 | 7.2 mi | 60 yd | Touched down here |
| 1971-10-17 | EF2 | 5.6 mi | 127 yd | Touched down here |
| 1965-05-07 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 1967 | F3 | 1 | 30 | $25.0M | |
| Oct 18, 1971 | F2 | 0 | 7 | $25K | |
| Apr 30, 2009 | PLYMELL | EF1 | 0 | 1 | $1.3M |
| Apr 30, 2009 | PLYMELL | EF1 | 0 | 1 | $240K |
| May 7, 1965 | F2 | 0 | 1 | $3K | |
| May 7, 1965 | F2 | 0 | 1 | $3K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2024 | EMINENCE | EF0 | $0 |
| Mar 24, 2024 | GARDEN CITY | EF1 | $0 |
| Feb 9, 2024 | PIERCEVILLE | EFU | $0 |
| Jul 5, 2019 | FRIEND | EF0 | $0 |
| Jul 5, 2019 | FRIEND | EF0 | $0 |
| May 19, 2018 | FRIEND | EF0 | $0 |
| Nov 16, 2015 | (GCK)GARDEN CITY ARPT | EF0 | $0 |
| May 28, 2015 | FRIEND | EF0 | $0 |
| May 27, 2015 | KALVESTA | EF0 | $0 |
| May 27, 2015 | KALVESTA | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Finney County
- Hail 625
- Thunderstorm Wind 544
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
This tornado started out moving southeast but then curved back to the southwest towards the end of it's life. It unfortunately went through a cattle dairy and killed over 200 head as a tremendous amount of tin churned through the air. There was one male that received injury when a door blew in. There were 8 pivot irrigation sprinklers damaged or destroyed, along with power poles, trees, roof and window damage.
This tornado broke power poles, roofs on homes, destroyed two mobile homes, disintegrated a shed and destroyed a pivot sprinkler. One female was injured when she was looking out the window and was struck in the face by a piece of wood that crashed into the window.
Although damage was F1, this tornado was rated higher based on observation and video. Damage was done to two golf courses, a few house roofs, power lines, and one overturned tractor-semitrailer at the dying stage of the tornado.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Finney County, Kansas?
99 tornado events are recorded in Finney County between 1950 and 2024, causing 1 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Finney County?
The strongest tornado on record in Finney County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for Finney County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Finney County, Kansas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/kansas/finney-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.