Salina, KS Tornado History — 110 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Salina, KS had?
Salina has had 110 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 12 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Salina?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Salina was an Unrated on April 1, 2025.
When is tornado season in Salina?
May is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Salina, with 34 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 Salina
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 37 total, averaging 1.9 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Salina 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Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete.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 Salina. 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
Casualties on Record Near Salina
4 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Salina since 1950, across 2 events. 137 injuries have been reported across all events. 1973 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F3 on September 25, 1973, which caused 3 fatalities along a 169.7-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Salina
About Tornadoes in Salina
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.
Salina can string together quiet season after quiet season, then face an afternoon when skies over the Smoky Hill valley turn suddenly severe — a contrast that has repeated across generations. An F1 brushed the area on August 31, 1951, a modest entry that opened the modern local record. An F3 injured 60 people on June 22, 1969, and on September 25, 1973 another F3 carved a 169.7-mile path, killing 3 and injuring 42. Later Kansans faced their own storms: an F2 on October 18, 1979, an F3 on May 24, 1990, and a lethal EF2 on May 6, 2007. On April 14, 2012 an EF4 tracked 50.28 miles through the region, and on May 26, 2016 another EF4 injured 8 people along a 25.09-mile path; an EF3 followed on May 2, 2018.
The reason lies in geography. Central Kansas sits where humid air streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico meets dry air sliding east off the High Plains, often along a sharp dryline, while jet-stream disturbances overhead supply the wind shear that lets thunderstorms rotate. When those ingredients align, quiet stretches can give way to outbreak days. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center maintains the storm archive behind this page, and the event list elsewhere here draws on that same chronicle — spanning grandparents' memories of the 1950s through storms that today's residents witnessed firsthand.