NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Wathena, 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 Wathena, Kansas since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 93 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 93
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Wathena
The highest rating among the 93 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on May 29, 2004, came within 19 miles. The deadliest, an F2 on June 25, 1994, killed 1 person. Of the 93, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 36 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 26. The most recent tornado was on May 19, 2025. Of the 171 Kansas cities on this site, 88% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Wathena. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 141 times since 1958, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 171 Kansas cities, 74% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Wathena.
Compare Wathena's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Wathena
By decade
- 2020s8
- 2010s4
- 2000s24(1 EF3+)
- 1990s11
- 1980s12(1 EF3+)
- 1970s6
- 1960s17(2 EF3+)
- 1950s11(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 2004 | F3 | 19 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 26, 1984 | F3 | 7 mi | 32 mi | 0 / 9 |
| Jun 11, 1967 | F3 | 20 mi | 43.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 10, 1965 | F3 | 13 mi | 23.2 mi | 0 / 11 |
| May 18, 1959 | F3 | 19 mi | 6.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 25, 1994 | F2 | 23 mi | 0.8 mi | 1 / 2 |
| Mar 30, 2006 | F2 | 14 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 8 |
| Apr 26, 1991 | F2 | 14 mi | 25 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 3, 1981 | F2 | 2 mi | 1.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 16, 1973 | F2 | 7 mi | 6 mi | 0 / 14 |
| May 18, 1971 | F2 | 18 mi | 55.4 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jul 26, 1969 | F2 | 7 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 93, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Wathena
The Storm Prediction Center has 141 hail reports within 10 miles of Wathena since 1958, made on 80 separate days. Of these, 72 were 1 inch across or larger, and 9 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 2.75 inches (baseball size), was reported on 2 days, most recently September 11, 2000. The most recent report is from March 13, 2024. May has the most reports, 42.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Wathena
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is St Joseph Rosecrans Airport, MO, 2 miles east of Wathena at 818 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 17°F. May is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 34.9 inches over 56 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 39 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 126 nights a year. That 34.9 inches is more than at 53 of the 103 Kansas stations used on this site (51%). Troy, 9 miles west, has its own station (Troy 3N, KS): 37.0 inches a year, 2.1 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 37 | 17 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Feb | 43 | 21 | 1.0 | 3 |
| Mar | 55 | 32 | 2.1 | 5 |
| Apr | 66 | 42 | 3.7 | 7 |
| May | 76 | 54 | 4.9 | 7 |
| Jun | 85 | 64 | 4.8 | 8 |
| Jul | 88 | 67 | 4.7 | 5 |
| Aug | 86 | 65 | 3.8 | 5 |
| Sep | 80 | 54 | 3.2 | 5 |
| Oct | 68 | 43 | 2.8 | 5 |
| Nov | 53 | 31 | 1.9 | 3 |
| Dec | 41 | 21 | 1.3 | 3 |
| Year | 65 | 42 | 34.9 | 56 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at St Joseph Rosecrans Airport, MO (818 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 Wathena
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 186 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Wathena: 153 thunderstorm wind reports, 21 flash floods and 12 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 89 mph, on June 19, 2010. Of the 169 Kansas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 112 have had fewer than Wathena.
July 26, 2000: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Wathena — $1.0 million damage.
March 13, 2019: flood 4 miles from the centre of Wathena — $200,000 damage.
NWS: “Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauges in Rulo, Brownville, and St.”
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 Wathena's ZIP code 66090 have filed 13 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1998, and were paid $43,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 62% 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, 3 have fewer than Wathena.
Doniphan County, which includes Wathena, has been named in 22 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 13 severe storms, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 hurricane). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding, on September 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Doniphan County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for inland flooding and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $6.1 million a year, the 77th highest of 105 Kansas counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.1 million (34%), 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.