Preston, Kansas
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Township 6. It lies in ZIP code area 67583. The Survey maps it on the Preston quadrangle. 115 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,834 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPreston fell from 158 to 115 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 158 | |
| 2020 | 115 | -43 (-27%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 14 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1892 USGS Pratt quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Pratt quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Pratt quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Pratt quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS Preston quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Pratt quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
11 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Preston between 2016 and 2020, burning about 195 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Pratt County | 25 |
| 15 September 2017 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Pratt County | 22 |
| 7 July 2018 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 14 |
| 9 April 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Pratt County | 12 |
| 8 April 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Pratt County | 11 |
| 20 April 2017 | Smoking | under an acre | Pratt County | 14 |
| 19 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 70 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 10 |
| 16 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 9 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 96 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Preston in 96 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 53 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 7 heavy rain, 5 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | $100,000 | Several pivot irrigation systems were overturned by the wind. |
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF1) | Preston | $65,000 | This relatively brief tornado was moving at about 60 mph and turned a pivot irrigation sprinkler over. |
| April 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | $50,000 | A pivot irrigation system was overturned and a round hay bale was blown across the road. |
| May 1996 | Lightning | Preston | $20,000 | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Preston | - | A social media report of 1.5 inch hail. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | The report was from KKSPREST2 observation station. |
| July 2025 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | A mesonet recorded 5.82 inches of rain around the time period lists over a few hours. |
| May 2024 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | A rainfall report of 1.50 inches. |
| May 2024 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | Rainfall report of 1.60 inches. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be 65 MPH. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | A large machine shed was destroyed. |
| September 2018 | Flood | Preston | - | Water was flowing across the highway. |
| September 2018 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | Rainfall of 6.25 inches was measured. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be at least 70 MPH. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Preston | - | There was also 60 mph wind with the hail. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | There was also golf ball sized hail with the high wind. |
| September 2017 | Flash Flood | Preston | - | Water was around six inches over local roads. |
| September 2017 | Flash Flood | Preston | - | Water was over highway 61 and water was entering three homes with water encroaching on the 4th home. |
| September 2017 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | Rainfall of 6.40 inches was reported during the previous 24 hours. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Preston | - | There were several reports of water over the road. |
| July 2013 | Tornado (EF0) | Preston | - | This tornado lasted just a minute. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | A power pole was blown over and there was damage to an outbuilding. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 mph. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Winds were estimated to be 70 MPH. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Ten to twelve inch diameter tree branches were blown down. |
| July 2010 | Flood | Preston | - | Rainfall of 3.75 inches in an hour caused street flooding in Preston. |
| July 2010 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | Rainfall of 3.75 was observed. |
| July 2010 | Heavy Rain | Preston | - | Rainfall of 4.50 was reported at this location. |
| May 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Preston | - | A brief funnel cloud was observed. |
| May 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Preston | - | This was brief and weak tornado. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Two to three inch diameter tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Preston | - | This was actually a storm chaser report but relayed by the TV station. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Tree limbs up to 10 inches in diameter were blown down. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Preston | - | The hail completely covered the ground and the highway. |
| August 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Preston | - | This was a brief tornado. Although the condensation never reached the ground, there was a dust swirl that lasted less than one minute. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Numerous 4 to 6 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | Six inch diameter tree limbs were blown down. |
| April 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Preston | - | Tornado formed out of a low topped supercell. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Preston | - | Hail the size of cantaloupes was reported. Unspecified damage was done. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | no account filed |
| April 2023 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| March 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Preston | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Preston | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Preston | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q782641 | The 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 473767. 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.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
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.





