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Grinnell, Kansas

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Grinnell Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67738. The Survey maps it on the Grinnell North quadrangle. 260 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,910 feet above sea level.

Grinnell within Gove County

Population over time

2 figures

Grinnell grew from 259 to 260 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010259
2020260+1 (+0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Storms near this place

60 of 96 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grinnell in 96 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 50 hail, 33 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 4 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2015Tornado (EF1)Grinnell$50,000Spotters repported a tornado moving from south of Grinnell to just northwest of Grinnell. Minor roof damage was reported and irrigation pivot sections were overturned.
June 2020Flash FloodGrinnell$25,000Gove County Dispatch reported approximately 10 inches of water under the I-70 overpass at mile marker 86. A vehicle was reported to be stuck in the water. Flash flooding occurred due to training of cells within a line moving NE and then the line pushed east out of the area around an hour later. Damage costs to the vehicle are unknown.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$10,000A semi was blown off Interstate 70 near mile marker 86 near Grinnell.
May 2008HailGrinnell$10,000NSSL SHAVE project relayed 6-8 reports of large hail from 4 SW Grinnel north to Grinnell. Some windows and screens were broken and cars were dented and had broken windshields.
December 2016Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$8,000Thunderstorm wind gusts blew a porch down and blew out car windows in town.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$1,000Tree limbs were reported down, and siding was blown off a house.
August 2009Flash FloodGrinnell$1,000Big Creek flooded across County Road 36 with water 40 to 50 feet wide. Spotter received 2.25 inches of rain in rain gauge.
August 2025HailGrinnell-Social media report of hail ranging from golf ball to baseball in size.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Tree damage in the form of a few larger limbs being knocked down occurred on County Road U, between County Roads 26 and 30.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Mesonet report of 60 MPH gust.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-UP830 Mesonet reported a 59 MPH gust.
April 2024HailGrinnell-Hail ranged in size from one to two inches in diameter and fell for a duration of two to three minutes.
April 2024HailGrinnell-Nickel sized hail that lasted about two minutes and nearly covered the ground.
April 2024HailGrinnell-Golf ball to egg sized hail reported at the intersection of Old Highway 40 and County Road 34.
July 2024HailGrinnell-Pea to penny sized hail reported.
June 2023HailGrinnell-Report from mPing.
June 2023HailGrinnell-At least quarter size hail in Grinnell. Tree leaves shredded. Hail lasted for 10-15 minutes and covered the ground.
August 2023HailGrinnell-Hail up to the size of tennis balls reported in Grinnell, KS. Time is estimated from radar. Damage done to nearly all buildings in town on the north-facing sides with multiple windows being broken.
May 2022HailGrinnell-Pea to penny sized hail reported.
October 2021Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-As a line of thunderstorms moved across Gove County, a large, dead tree was blown over. Tree was estimated to be 30 to 40 feet tall with an unknown diameter and rotted roots.
May 2021HailGrinnell-Report received of hail up to 1 inch at location.
June 2020HailGrinnell-Quarter sized hail reported at exit 86 (KS-216) on I-70.
June 2020HailGrinnell-Spotter reported ongoing quarter sized hail.
June 2020HailGrinnell-Pea to nickle sized hail reported.
June 2020HailGrinnell-Officer reported quarter to ping pong ball sized hail at mile marker 85 on I-70.
April 2019HailGrinnell-A mixture of hail and graupel fell.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Pea to dime size hail also occurred with the wind.
June 2018HailGrinnell-The hail also occurred with estimated wind gusts of 65 MPH.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Measured at the Grinnell Middle School.
May 2017HailGrinnell-Also occurred with estimated wind gusts up to 70 MPH.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-The wind gusts occurred with nickel size hail.
May 2017HailGrinnell-A car and a semi have both slid off I-70 between mile markers 83 and 85 due to nickel and pea size hail covering the road. No injuries were reported.
May 2017Flash FloodGrinnell-Water rose above the wheels of cars and floated logs down the streets. A motorist drove into a flooded roadway and ended up in a street drainage. The person was safely removed from their car. No reports of property damage were given. Total rainfall in Grinnell was 4.11 inches.
May 2017Flash FloodGrinnell-After Big Creek flooded Grinnell the flood waters continued down the creek channel through the rest of the county, flooding county roads that crossed the creek. Total rainfall along Big Creek from Grinnell to Highway 23 south of Grainfield was 5-10 inches. The runoff from this heavy rainfall further added to the water running down Big Creek.
May 2017FloodGrinnell-Once the heavy rain ended the amount of water in Big Creek gradually dwindled from west to east.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Spotter estimated peak winds of 60 to 70 mph.
May 2013Tornado (EF0)Grinnell-Small rope tornado about two miles north of Interstate 70.
October 2013Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Time of report estimated.
July 2011HailGrinnell-An estimated half inch of rain was also received in about a ten minute period.
October 2011Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Wind gust reported from a mesonet station near Grinnell.
April 2010Flash FloodGrinnell-Spotter reported street flooding in town and 3.0 inches of rain since 7 pm CDT. Radar estimated rainfall for the storm indicated that 3.55 inches of precipitation had fallen in the immediate area.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Wind report was received from the KSN Weather Lab.
August 2009HailGrinnell-Police officer reported golf ball sized hail on Interstate 70 at mile marker 89.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down at least one 6-inch diameter tree branch and numerous 2-4 inch diameter branches.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down at least one 5-inch diameter branch and numerous 1 to 2-inch diameter limbs.
May 2008HailGrinnell-At least a dozen hail reports between 0.75 and 1.00 inches in diameter were received from NSSL's SHAVE project. These reports were associated with a severe thunderstorm which tracked ENE across northern Gove county during the late afternoon.
May 2008Flash FloodGrinnell-Water was reported running over a county road 4 miles south of Grinnell. Other areas of eastern Gove county also experienced extremely heavy rainfall through early evening.
May 2008Tornado (EF0)Grinnell-No damage was reported with this tornado.
June 2007HailGrinnell-Quarter to half dollar sized hail.
September 2007HailGrinnell-Heavy rainfall also occurred, but no flooding was reported.
September 2007Tornado (EF0)Grinnell-Brief touchdown over open fields. No known damage.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-One small hog shed was overturned and damaged. Another sheet metal shed was torn apart with pieces blown about a half mile.
June 2006Flash FloodGrinnell-Water reported over county road south of Grinnell.
May 2006HailGrinnell-Broken windshield.
May 2005LightningGrinnell-Lightning struck a house producing damage from both the lightning stike and the fire.
March 1998HailGrinnell-Hail accompanied by 60-70 mph winds.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-no account filed
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-no account filed
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-no account filed
November 2015HailGrinnell-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gove County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Grainfield8.7 miles7
Gove13.9 miles8
Park14.4 miles7
Quinter21.4 miles7
Alanthus38.3 miles8

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on GrinnellAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q670888The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 471312. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.