Butler County, Kansas Emergency Management

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Butler County, Kansas Emergency Management We are a local government agency responsible for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

There’s nothing that makes your head spin quite like an abrupt Kansas season-switch! In only a few days, we’ve gone from...
10/16/2026

There’s nothing that makes your head spin quite like an abrupt Kansas season-switch! In only a few days, we’ve gone from record high temps in the 90s to Sparkly-Surfaces Advisories. We're still on track to start tomorrow morning in the 30s… and they could be even lower 30s than we first expected. Our half of the state is forecasted to stay just above the freezing mark (Western Kansas isn’t quite that lucky), but it should be cold enough to create that nice icy crust on the grass and windshields. We're also settling into those crisp, autumn-y days with highs averaging in the 50s.

Oh, wait… what’s that? We just got an update from Mother Nature Corp. They advised that the cold weather season shipped prematurely and they’ll be issuing a recall. The replacement product should arrive by the middle of next week… which may include highs in the 80s (seriously??).

And in today’s episode of Mother Nature’s new show, Fun with Flood Forecasts…Fortunately, we’re not in a frightening flo...
10/14/2026

And in today’s episode of Mother Nature’s new show, Fun with Flood Forecasts…

Fortunately, we’re not in a frightening flood forecast (ok… that’s enough with all of the “F’s”). We are still under a Flood Watch for the time being (couldn’t avoid that “F”). We did receive some healthy moisture last night (storm totals ranged from 1 inch to over 4 inches across the county). And, we are still scheduled to have off-and-on showers and thunderstorms through tomorrow morning. However, the more substantial heavy rainfall threat has now shifted into southeast Kansas and Oklahoma. The other thing that wandered south was the severe storm threat… today should just bring some more (reasonable) rainfall and clouds without an attitude.

Oh, and yes…. that massive cool-down is still happening, so continue digging out the sweaters…

(Edited: updated the top of the rainfall range from 3+ inches to 4+ inches after a hefty report posted from the Douglass area.)

You probably guessed this was coming... and now it's here. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 11:00 pm tonig...
10/13/2026

You probably guessed this was coming... and now it's here. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 11:00 pm tonight. (And, of course, our Flood Watch is also still hanging around out there... it's a two-for-one day.)

If Mother Nature was playing cards, she’d apparently be holding a royal flush right now. Here’s the hand she just reveal...
10/13/2026

If Mother Nature was playing cards, she’d apparently be holding a royal flush right now. Here’s the hand she just revealed:

• Ace: Near-record or record high temps
• King: Severe storms with damaging winds and large hail
• Queen: A small October tornado threat
• Jack: A Flood Watch
• 10: The first frost

Her first move will be to spike today’s temps up into the low 90s again. Then she’ll lay down the thunderstorm card. Strong-to-severe storms are expected in the late afternoon or early evening, and these could bring large hail and damaging winds… and before about 8 or 9 pm, she could also sneak in the potential for a brief tornado. And then there’s the rain… there could be so much rain with this hand. Forecasters are specifically watching the areas between Hwy 50 and Hwy 54/400, thinking that rain accumulations could reach 2-4 inches or more there… which is where the Flood Watch card comes in. That Watch is in effect from late afternoon today through Wednesday morning (so far… it could be extended, since more rain is expected into Thursday**).

But there is one more card to play: the first frost card. After all the stormy nonsense passes, the temperatures could fall so dramatically that we might wake up to temps in the 30s Saturday morning (if you’re an early-riser). Some parts of Kansas may even see their first sparkly ground of the season, before the air warms into the 50s or 60s. (M.N. truly makes us dizzy sometimes.)

**AND AN UPDATE (added after lunch on 10/13): Just as suspected, the Flood Watch has been extended through Thursday afternoon. It could be a super-soaker couple of days...

Sunny skies, above normal temps. Sunny skies, above normal temps. Sunny skies, above normal temps. Mother Nature seems ...
10/12/2026

Sunny skies, above normal temps.
Sunny skies, above normal temps.
Sunny skies, above normal temps.

Mother Nature seems to have gotten stuck in a rut lately, but at least it’s not an unpleasant one. Except for… wait a minute… what’s that lurking in the forecast?

Sooooo… Mother Nature may NOT have been stuck. She may have actually been lulling us into a false sense of security while she quietly brewed up her next round of mischief.. Because, the next few days are definitely not just sunny skies and above normal temps. Instead, M.N. has been working on another stormy weather value pack. So far, the day with the most potential is Tuesday. Thunderstorms could erupt along and behind a front during the late afternoon or evening. And these could be strong-to-severe with up to 65 mph wind gusts and large hail (during the early evening hours, these could potentially get up to the size of golf balls). The last feature that our local forecasters mention is the chance for training thunderstorms and heavy, flooding rainfall. (What’s wrong with nice moisture?? Why do we have to do extreme moisture??). The Storm Prediction Center is also throwing a very small tornado threat into the forecast for part of South Central Kansas, but we’ve filed a request to remove that (that’s just going a little too far). On Wednesday and Thursday, more scattered storms with heavy rainfall could pass through (and on Weds, there could be a little more marginally-severe activity).

After all of that… some Canadian air will slide in behind the stormy system, bringing what the NWS is calling the coolest temps so far this season. Folks.. it may finally be SWEATSHIRT WEATHER!

WARNING! THIS SURVEY MAY CAUSE PREPAREDNESS!Butler County Kansas Residents--we want to know what keeps you up at night....
10/08/2026

WARNING! THIS SURVEY MAY CAUSE PREPAREDNESS!

Butler County Kansas Residents--we want to know what keeps you up at night.

Tornadoes?
Floods?
Hazmat Incidents?
Cyber Attacks?
Wildfires?
Zombie Invasion?

Well….maybe not zombies, but we want to hear from you!

Butler County is updating the county’s Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) to identify the threats and hazards that may significantly impact Butler County, KS, so we can strengthen our county’s preparedness, response, and recovery planning.

Your response will help us determine:
• what could go wrong?
• how bad could it get ?
• what do we need to best handle it?

The survey can be found at https://arcg.is/1nPrPn1 or by scanning the QR code on the flyer.

Disclaimer: No zombies will be harmed in the making of this THIRA.

And the threat is officially over. You can stash your rain boots and life boats back in the closet. On the moisture map...
10/02/2026

And the threat is officially over. You can stash your rain boots and life boats back in the closet.

On the moisture map, it's pretty clear where Mother Nature's heavy-rainfall machine started to run out of product as it stretched toward the southeastern corner of the state. We're taking two big positives away from all this... First, we got moisture! Second, we didn't get an absurd amount of moisture!

And that's all there is. For at least the next week, Mother Nature Corp is only filling orders for dry skies and sunshine. Daytime highs won't exactly be in the fall-sweatshirt-weather range... we'll probably be back into the 80s by mid-next-week. But we are expecting a shipment of brisk fall nights (plan on extra-brisk tonight... we may actually see 40s before dawn!).

There is currently a lot of rain falling to our north/northwest. A LOT of rain (the radar screen shot is from around 5pm...
10/01/2026

There is currently a lot of rain falling to our north/northwest. A LOT of rain (the radar screen shot is from around 5pm). And dark clouds have been starting to fill in the previously blank space between us and the heavy rainfall. Forecasters have been getting reports of 2-3 inches coming down in very short order in some of the affected areas, such as parts of McPherson and Marion Counties... and they think the heavy rainfall threat is going to sprawl our direction. As activity starts to build in our area, be prepared for the possibility of heavy rainfall rates, which could lead to flash flooding... which can turn into treacherous road conditions. Be alert and be safe!

There isn’t a whole lot left of Hurricane Polo, but his effects are still being felt – heavy, wet air and generous rainf...
09/30/2026

There isn’t a whole lot left of Hurricane Polo, but his effects are still being felt – heavy, wet air and generous rainfall continues to spread across the United States. And that generous rainfall will continue to push through our state, sprawling across western and central KS throughout the day. The Flood Watch for the north central counties has been expanded, but it still comes nowhere close to us. The heavy rain target is then expected to shift east, sitting over the Flint Hills and SE KS tonight and tomorrow morning (the NWS is still floating around the idea of a Flood Watch for the southeast counties). And somewhere in the middle of all that, we should get a share of the moisture… but our forecasted totals have fallen since yesterday.

But about that Marginal severe weather threat for today… Well, it got an upgrade. The new model, Wednesday Weather 2.0, comes with a variety of special features:
• A Slight (2/5) risk level for part of the state
• A potential for severe-level wind gusts
• And the ‘best” part: a favorable environment for a number of brief, weak tornadoes, especially west of the Flint Hills

This enhanced model will be most active between early afternoon and early evening. And while we’re not exactly in the targeted delivery zone for this product, we’re going to keep a close eye on its progress (since we definitely don’t trust Mother Nature to stick to a plan).

If you look at our local forecast, there is a whole lot of gray-and-rainy for the next couple of days. Sprinkles, shower...
09/29/2026

If you look at our local forecast, there is a whole lot of gray-and-rainy for the next couple of days. Sprinkles, showers, and out-right thunderstorms are all still possible from now through Thursday night. In Butler County, the highest rainfall probabilities (and largest rainfall numbers) are still parked in Thursday’s outlook. But the more turbulent (severe) weather chances are still showing up in Wednesday’s forecast. The risk level remains down in the Marginal range (1/5), but behind the curtain, Mother Nature is trying to assemble some not-quite-Marginal things. Wednesday afternoon, ingredients could come together to brew up supercells capable of large hail, damaging winds… and maybe even a twister?? (The tornado threat is low and the Storm Prediction Center currently has it parked over central KS, not over us, but we’re still offended by the idea.)

But back to the flooding potential… the NWS continues to focus on both central and SE Kansas, and they mentioned that they might expand the Flood Watch (which currently remains primarily over the western and north central counties). We’re still hanging out between the two areas of interest… and asking for a couple more rounds of gentle rainfall, but none of that excessive stuff (the jury is still out as to whether anyone is listening).

Address

2100 Ohio Street Ste B
Augusta, KS
67010

Telephone

+13167339796

Website

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