NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Valley Center, 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 Valley Center, Kansas since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 173 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 17 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 173
- EF3 or stronger
- 17
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
40 deaths in all
What the records show for Valley Center
The highest rating among the 173 tornadoes within 25 miles is F5, reached 3 times; the most recent, on April 26, 1991, came within 14 miles. Of the 173, 11 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 38 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 52. The most recent tornado was on April 30, 2024. Valley Center has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 89% of the 171 Kansas cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 248 times since 1959, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Valley Center has more hail reports within 10 miles than 73% of the 171 Kansas cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Valley Center
By decade
- 2020s5(1 EF3+)
- 2010s18(2 EF3+)
- 2000s15
- 1990s39(5 EF3+)
- 1980s24
- 1970s13(1 EF3+)
- 1960s29(6 EF3+)
- 1950s30(2 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26, 1991 | F5 | 14 mi | 46 mi | 17 / 225 |
| Mar 13, 1990 | F5 | 21 mi | 22 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Mar 13, 1990 | F5 | 19 mi | 48 mi | 1 / 60 |
| Jun 10, 1958 | F4 | 17 mi | 9 mi | 15 / 5 |
| May 3, 1999 | F4 | 11 mi | 24 mi | 6 / 150 |
| Jun 23, 1969 | F4 | 20 mi | 8.7 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Apr 29, 2022 | EF3 | 14 mi | 12.65 mi | 0 / 3 |
| May 6, 2015 | EF3 | 17 mi | 16.48 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 14, 2012 | EF3 | 13 mi | 13.2 mi | 0 / 38 |
| May 16, 1991 | F3 | 19 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 26, 1973 | F3 | 13 mi | 4.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Sep 3, 1965 | F3 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 27 |
The strongest 12 of 173, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Valley Center
The Storm Prediction Center has 248 hail reports within 10 miles of Valley Center since 1959, made on 135 separate days. Of these, 176 were 1 inch across or larger, and 19 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on March 15, 1982. The most recent report is from September 3, 2025. May has the most reports, 74.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Valley Center
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wichita Jabara Airport, KS, 10 miles southeast of Valley Center at 1,421 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 23°F. May is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.6 inches; the year adds up to 32.6 inches over 51 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 57 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 102 nights a year. That 32.6 inches is more than at 38 of the 103 Kansas stations used on this site (37%). Sedgwick, 8 miles northwest, has its own station (Newton, KS): 33.9 inches a year, 1.3 more than here, and the same July average high, 92°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 43 | 23 | 0.6 | 2 |
| Feb | 48 | 26 | 1.1 | 3 |
| Mar | 59 | 35 | 2.1 | 4 |
| Apr | 68 | 45 | 3.0 | 5 |
| May | 77 | 55 | 5.2 | 8 |
| Jun | 86 | 65 | 4.8 | 7 |
| Jul | 92 | 69 | 3.6 | 5 |
| Aug | 90 | 68 | 3.8 | 6 |
| Sep | 83 | 59 | 3.2 | 4 |
| Oct | 70 | 47 | 2.8 | 5 |
| Nov | 57 | 35 | 1.3 | 2 |
| Dec | 45 | 26 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Year | 68 | 46 | 32.6 | 51 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Wichita Jabara Airport, KS (1,421 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 Valley Center
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 254 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Valley Center: 188 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 heavy rain events, 22 floods, 14 flash floods and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 9, and the NWS estimated $2.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on April 2, 2015. June has had the most flash floods, 4 of 14. Of the 169 Kansas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 82 have had fewer than Valley Center.
September 12, 2008: flash flood 4 miles from the centre of Valley Center — 1 killed, 1 injured, $17,000 damage.
NWS: “Widespread heavy rains of 8 to 10 inches caused flooding of numerous county roads across Northern Sedgwick County.”
April 2, 2015: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Valley Center — 3 injured, $40,000 damage.
July 22, 2008: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Valley Center — 2 injured, $250,000 damage.
NWS: “An isolated thunderstorm produced severe downburst winds along with hail up to quarter size along and near Interstate 135 roughly between 109th Street and 101st Street. Four semis traveling on the interstate were blown over, blocking traffic for several hours.”
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 Valley Center's ZIP code 67147 have filed 29 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $502,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 21% 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, 21 have fewer than Valley Center.
Sedgwick County, which includes Valley Center, has been named in 18 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 severe storms, 3 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 tornadoes). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 29, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Sedgwick County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for tornadoes and lightning; Relatively High for hail, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $255.9 million a year, the 2nd highest of 105 Kansas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $101.0 million (39%), 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.
Cities near Valley Center
- Kechi, KS5 mi
- Park City, KS6 mi
- Sedgwick, KS8 mi
- Maize, KS9 mi
- Wichita, KS11 mi
- Benton, KS12 mi
- Colwich, KS12 mi
- Newton, KS14 mi
- Halstead, KS15 mi
- North Newton, KS15 mi
- Andover, KS16 mi
- Andale, KS17 mi
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