NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Olathe, 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 Olathe, Kansas since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 144 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 12 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 144
- EF3 or stronger
- 12
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
47 deaths in all
What the records show for Olathe
The strongest of the 144 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F5 on May 20, 1957; its path came within 6 miles, and it killed 44 people. Of the 144, 14 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 56 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 50. The most recent tornado was on June 3, 2025. Olathe has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 64% of the 171 Kansas cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 369 times since 1959, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Olathe has more hail reports within 10 miles than 87% of the 171 Kansas cities.
Compare Olathe's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Olathe
By decade
- 2020s11
- 2010s22(1 EF3+)
- 2000s23(1 EF3+)
- 1990s12
- 1980s18(1 EF3+)
- 1970s9(1 EF3+)
- 1960s26(6 EF3+)
- 1950s23(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 1957 | F5 | 6 mi | 69.4 mi | 44 / 207 |
| May 4, 2003 | F4 | 14 mi | 21 mi | 2 / 30 |
| May 28, 2019 | EF4 | 15 mi | 29.07 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 7, 1961 | F4 | 21 mi | 26.2 mi | 0 / 12 |
| May 22, 1952 | F4 | 12 mi | 26.9 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Jun 19, 1981 | F3 | 17 mi | 7.7 mi | 1 / 33 |
| May 4, 1977 | F3 | 3 mi | 31.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 26, 1969 | F3 | 23 mi | 10.1 mi | 0 / 5 |
| May 15, 1968 | F3 | 18 mi | 2.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 1966 | F3 | 3 mi | 7.7 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Aug 6, 1962 | F3 | 22 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 15, 1960 | F3 | 19 mi | 8.4 mi | 0 / 2 |
The strongest 12 of 144, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Olathe
The Storm Prediction Center has 369 hail reports within 10 miles of Olathe since 1959, made on 172 separate days. Of these, 255 were 1 inch across or larger, and 24 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on August 19, 1974. The most recent report is from May 19, 2025. May has the most reports, 105.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Olathe
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Olathe 3E, KS, 3 miles east of Olathe at 1,055 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 20°F. May is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 1.3 inches; the year adds up to 41.0 inches over 65 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 34 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 98 nights a year. Snowfall averages 13.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 41.0 inches is more than at 87 of the 103 Kansas stations used on this site (84%). Gardner, 7 miles southwest, has its own station (Olathe Johnson Co Airport, KS): 37.7 inches a year, 3.3 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 39 | 20 | 1.3 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Feb | 44 | 24 | 1.7 | 4 | 3.3 |
| Mar | 55 | 34 | 2.5 | 5 | 1.4 |
| Apr | 65 | 44 | 4.1 | 7 | 0.3 |
| May | 75 | 56 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 84 | 65 | 5.2 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 88 | 69 | 4.8 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 87 | 67 | 4.5 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 58 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 68 | 47 | 3.1 | 5 | 0.3 |
| Nov | 54 | 35 | 2.4 | 4 | 1.2 |
| Dec | 43 | 25 | 1.8 | 4 | 3.4 |
| Year | 65 | 45 | 41.0 | 65 | 13.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Olathe 3E, KS (1,055 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 Olathe
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 297 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Olathe: 259 thunderstorm wind reports, 30 flash floods, 4 floods and 4 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 89 mph, on July 14, 2023. Of the 169 Kansas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 130 have had fewer than Olathe.
March 6, 2017: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Olathe — $500,000 damage.
NWS: “On the evening of March 6, a squall line with damaging winds moved through the Johnson County Executive Airport, and produced significant damage to hangars and aircraft enclosed in the hangars. Several planes were flipped after the building shredded apart by the strong straight line winds.”
June 26, 2002: thunderstorm wind in Olathe — $250,000 damage.
NWS: “Thunderstorm winds ripped off portions of a roof on a VFW building and a Toys "R" Us building. Numerous trees were uprooted.”
August 7, 1999: thunderstorm wind in Olathe — $200,000 damage.
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 Olathe's 2 ZIP codes have filed 57 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $894,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2013, with 18. 19% 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, 30 have fewer than Olathe.
Johnson County, which includes Olathe, has been named in 12 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 9 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 floods, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on October 26, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Johnson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively High for hail, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $256.8 million a year, the highest of 105 Kansas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $110.2 million (43%), is from inland flooding.
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.