NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Ellinwood, KS
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Ellinwood, Kansas since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 197 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 16 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 197
- EF3 or stronger
- 16
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
5 deaths in all
What the records show for Ellinwood
The highest rating among the 197 tornadoes within 25 miles is F4 or EF4, reached 3 times; the most recent, on April 14, 2012, came within 17 miles. The deadliest, an EF2 on May 24, 2011, killed 2 people. Of the 197, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 101 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 92. The most recent tornado was on May 18, 2025. Ellinwood has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 98% of the 171 Kansas cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 114 times since 1965, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Of the 171 Kansas cities, 85% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Ellinwood.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Ellinwood
By decade
- 2020s5(1 EF3+)
- 2010s37(3 EF3+)
- 2000s59(2 EF3+)
- 1990s31(2 EF3+)
- 1980s4
- 1970s12(1 EF3+)
- 1960s15(1 EF3+)
- 1950s34(6 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 2001 | F4 | 16 mi | 5 mi | 1 / 28 |
| Apr 14, 2012 | EF4 | 17 mi | 50.28 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 4, 1950 | F4 | 14 mi | 34.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| May 4, 2007 | EF3 | 21 mi | 17.4 mi | 1 / 0 |
| May 18, 2025 | EF3 | 22 mi | 32.65 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 16, 2017 | EF3 | 18 mi | 26.64 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 14, 2012 | EF3 | 10 mi | 39.67 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1990 | F3 | 23 mi | 60 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1990 | F3 | 7 mi | 26 mi | 0 / 6 |
| May 27, 1975 | F3 | 13 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 22, 1964 | F3 | 1 mi | 59.7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Oct 29, 1956 | F3 | 11 mi | 0.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 197, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Ellinwood
The Storm Prediction Center has 114 hail reports within 10 miles of Ellinwood since 1965, made on 77 separate days. Of these, 82 were 1 inch across or larger, and 9 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on May 6, 2024. The most recent report is from July 21, 2025. May has the most reports, 39.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Ellinwood
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Great Bend 3W, KS, 14 miles west of Ellinwood at 1,872 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 18°F. May is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 27.5 inches over 46 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 70 days a year, almost all from April to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 120 nights a year. Snowfall averages 11.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 27.5 inches is more than at 24 of the 103 Kansas stations used on this site (23%). Lyons, 19 miles east, has its own station (Sterling, KS): 29.1 inches a year, 1.6 more than here, and a July average high of 93°F against 91°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 43 | 18 | 0.7 | 2 | 2.2 |
| Feb | 47 | 21 | 0.9 | 2 | 2.6 |
| Mar | 58 | 30 | 1.6 | 4 | 2.3 |
| Apr | 68 | 39 | 2.2 | 4 | 0.3 |
| May | 76 | 51 | 4.8 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 87 | 61 | 3.7 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 91 | 65 | 3.9 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 89 | 63 | 3.7 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 82 | 55 | 2.0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 69 | 42 | 2.0 | 3 | 0.1 |
| Nov | 55 | 29 | 1.0 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Dec | 44 | 20 | 1.0 | 2 | 2.3 |
| Year | 67 | 41 | 27.5 | 46 | 11.5 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Great Bend 3W, KS (1,872 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Ellinwood
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 92 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Ellinwood: 78 thunderstorm wind reports, 7 floods, 4 heavy rain events and 3 flash floods. They killed 0 people and injured 12, and the NWS estimated $5.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on May 5, 2007.
August 19, 2005: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Ellinwood — 12 injured, $5.0 million damage.
August 4, 2013: flash flood in Ellinwood — $100,000 damage.
NWS: “Several homes reported basement flooding. Several roads were closed between Ellinwood and Great Bend due to high water flowing over the road.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Ellinwood's ZIP code 67526 have filed 15 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $111,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 13% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 65 Kansas cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 7 have fewer than Ellinwood.
Barton County, which includes Ellinwood, has been named in 28 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 25 of them major disasters (by incident: 19 severe storms, 3 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, on December 19, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Barton County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for hail and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes; Relatively Low for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $18.4 million a year, the 18th highest of 105 Kansas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $4.9 million (27%), is from tornadoes.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Ellinwood
- Great Bend, KS12 mi
- Hoisington, KS18 mi
- Lyons, KS19 mi
- Sterling, KS22 mi
- St John, KS26 mi
- Ellsworth, KS33 mi
- Larned, KS33 mi
- Russell, KS39 mi
- Hutchinson, KS40 mi
- South Hutchinson, KS40 mi
- Inman, KS42 mi
- Mcpherson, KS48 mi
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