Dodge City, KS Tornado History — 168 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Dodge City, KS had?
Dodge City has had 168 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 11 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Dodge City?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Dodge City was an EF0 on June 18, 2024.
When is tornado season in Dodge City?
May is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Dodge City, with 75 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Dodge City
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 70 total, averaging 3.5 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Dodge City since December 29, 2025
These is a preliminary report, not confirmed tornadoes. It has not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and is not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Dodge City. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Have any tornadoes near Dodge City been fatal?
No fatalities are on record within 25 miles of Dodge City from any of the 168 tornadoes since 1950, though 5 injuries have been reported. NOAA Storm Prediction Center records.
Notable Tornadoes Near Dodge City
About Tornadoes in Dodge City
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Systematic tornado observation around Dodge City reaches back to the middle of the last century, and the western Kansas storm record has been handed down generation by generation since. On June 4, 1955, an F4 tornado tracked roughly 72 miles across the High Plains near the city. A generation later, on May 1, 1972, another F4 carved a 26-mile path and injured one person. The lineage continued with an F2 on March 19, 1982, and an F3 on May 16, 1991, that grew to roughly a half mile wide and injured two people. In the modern era, an EF3 struck on March 29, 2007, followed by back-to-back EF3 tornadoes on May 24 and May 25, 2016, and another EF3 on May 18, 2019. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center maintains the archive from which these events are drawn.
The reason lies in geography. Dodge City sits on the High Plains of southwestern Kansas, where the dryline — the sharp boundary between moist air streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico and hot, dry air descending off the Rockies — often sharpens in late spring. When a jet-stream disturbance rides over that boundary, storms erupting along it can begin rotating soon after they form. The open, gently rising terrain west of town gives spotters long sight lines, which helps explain why area storms have been so thoroughly photographed and studied. The event list elsewhere on this page reflects that continuing vigilance.