Seward, Kansas
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1985. It stands in North Seward Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67576. The Survey maps it on the Seward quadrangle. 41 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,909 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSeward fell from 64 to 41 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 | 64 | |
| 2020 | 41 | -23 (-36%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1891 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1970 USGS Seward quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Great Bend quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
17 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Seward between 1997 and 2018, burning about 337 acres in total. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Stafford County | 88 |
| 3 July 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 59 |
| 27 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Stafford County | 70 |
| 24 July 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 64 |
| 6 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Stafford County | 50 |
| 4 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Stafford County | 48 |
| 22 June 2018 | Natural | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 55 |
| 19 June 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51 acres | Quivira National Wildlife Refuge | EDEN VALLEY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 61 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Seward in 61 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 33 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 8 tornado, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | $1,500 | Two power poles were blown down and there were numerous tree branches broken. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Seward | - | Received a mPING report of 1 inch hail. |
| May 2017 | Funnel Cloud | Seward | - | The funnel never fully condensed more than half way to the surface. |
| May 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Seward | - | This weak and brief tornado moved north-northwest. |
| May 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Seward | - | This weak and brief tornado moved north-northwest. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | Power lines were blown down. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | Tree limbs were blown down by winds that were estimated to be at least 60 MPH. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | Large tree limbs were blown down by winds estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH. |
| April 2012 | Tornado (EF1) | Seward | - | This tornado did EF1 damage to trees and power poles. |
| July 2011 | Hail | Seward | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were also estimated to be 50 to 55 mph that accompanied the hail. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Seward | - | Penny to golf ball sized hail was covering the road. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | A tank battery was damaged and a shed top was blown off. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | A grain bin was displaced about 1/4 of a mile. |
| July 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Seward | - | A landspout tornado was visible from weak thunderstorms in the area. |
| July 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Seward | - | A second landspout was visible but did not cause any damage. |
| May 2007 | Flood | Seward | - | Major flooding in Seward. Many streets under water. |
| May 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Seward | - | This weak tornado did not cause any damage. |
| May 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | Two inch diameter tree limbs were broken. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | An old tree was blown down. |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | Brief power outages reported by law enforcement. |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Seward | - | Brief tornado. |
| May 1993 | Tornado (F0) | Seward | - | Tornado briefly touched down in open farmland with no damage or injuries reported. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| August 2017 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seward | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Seward | - | 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 Seward | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2325508 | 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 475874. 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.






