Tornado Risk in Meade County, KS
Meade County's tornado history, by the numbers
57 tornado tracks have crossed Meade County since 1952 by NOAA's count, roughly one every 1.3 years - the High band on this site's scale. That is the 91st percentile nationally for tornado frequency. Among 105 Kansas counties in this dataset, Meade County ranks 25 for how often a tornado touches down.
The number that matters more than frequency
No violent (EF4-5) tornado has been recorded in Meade County in NOAA's 76-year database. Of its 57 recorded tracks, 47 were weak (EF0-1) and 8 significant (EF2-3).
Shelter and safe-room economics
Kansas does not currently have a confirmed state rebate layered on top of FEMA's 75% Hazard Mitigation cost-share, so a Meade County homeowner should expect the full national range: $2,890-$13,280, $7,645 typical.
Power after the storm, not just shelter during it
3,892 people live in Meade County, and a tornado outbreak's power loss usually reaches far more of Kansas than the tracks themselves touch. A portable battery unit is the faster, no-fuel way to bridge that outage.
What Meade County's figure does not tell you
Meade County's figure is county-wide, not address-specific. Meade County covers about 978 square miles, so a single touch here counts the same as a single touch in a county a fraction of that size. NOAA also documents that older records undercount weaker tornadoes from before Doppler radar became standard. Meade County has about 3,892 residents.