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WaKeeney, Kansas

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in WaKeeney Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67672. The Survey maps it on the WaKeeney West quadrangle. 1,799 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,448 feet above sea level.

WaKeeney within Trego County

On record in WaKeeney

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

WaKeeney grew from 418 to 1,799 between 1880 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
1880418
20101,862
20201,799-63 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 13 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.

Fires near this place

6 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of WaKeeney between 2015 and 2020, burning about 24 acres in total. None 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/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
28 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKansas Forest Service11
4 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
1 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
19 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service2
3 March 2020Smoking1.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
26 November 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Trego County

Storms near this place

60 of 158 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names WaKeeney in 158 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 105 hail, 42 thunderstorm wind, 7 tornado, 2 heavy rain. 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
July 1996Thunderstorm WindWakeeney$3,000no account filed
August 1997Thunderstorm WindWakeeney$1,000A few power poles blown down.
September 2025HailWakeeney-Trego county emergency manager reported quarter sized hail 3 W of Wakeeney.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Wind report of 60 mph.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Strong winds.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Mesonet site 1 SSW Wakeeney.
September 2022HailWakeeney-The report was from mPing.
September 2022HailWakeeney-The report was from mPing.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Winds were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH.
March 2021Heavy RainWakeeney-Rainfall of 4.50 inches was observed.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-A roof was blown off a building.
May 2018Heavy RainWakeeney-Rainfall of 4.10 was measured in two hours and at the time of the observation it was still raining.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Severe semi trucks were overturned by the high wind.
May 2018FloodWakeeney-Water and debris came across the road.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Wind gusts were estimated to be 65 to 70 MPH. Large tree branches were blown down.
August 2017HailWakeeney-Winds were at least 70 MPH while the hail fell. Nearly every window was broken in structures and vehicles.
August 2017HailWakeeney-Winds were at least 70 MPH.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-A semi tractor trailer was blown over on the interstate.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Siding was blown off a DQ but was also accompanied by very large hail shattering much of the siding.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Many homes had siding damage from hail and high wind. A nearby crop field was completely destroyed.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Windows were broken and trees were uprooted by the high wind.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Power lines were blown down by the high wind.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Winds were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Two inch diameter tree branches were broken by the high wind.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Pea sized hail was also reported with the high winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Several power poles were blown down. Elephants with a circus were spooked by the thunderstorm and got loose and were running rampant in Wakeeney.
May 2008Tornado (EF1)Wakeeney-A tornado developed southwest of the Wakeeney airport and subsequently moved across the south side of Wakeeney before curving north along 13th Avenue and dissipating about 0.25 miles north of the city limit and 0.25 miles west of U.S. 283 (13th Street). The first damage was destruction of a hangar at the airport. The hangar was open to the south, and the wind entered the structure, lifted it, and deposited it in pieces northeast of its original location. The tornado moved through the KOA Campground south of I70, rolling a fifth wheel trailer, destroying a small cabin that was held down only by gravity, blowing limbs up to six inches in diameter from trees, and removing shingles from the roof of the managers office. Portions of the flat roof covering on the high school were lifted and peeled off. Small storage buildings were destroyed and trees were uprooted along 13th Street. At the north end of Wakeeney, a large Quonset building that opened to the south was lifted and destroyed, and the roof was removed from a brick barn. Wind speeds were estimated to be 90-100 mph.
August 2007HailWakeeney-Also estimated 60 mph wind at this location.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Two inch diameter tree limb was blown down. Pea size hail and 0.40 inches of rain also occurred.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Also had 1 inch diameter hail along with the wind.
May 2007Tornado (EF0)Wakeeney-Contact with the ground was observed for about 2 minutes. Nothing was impacted to cause any damage.
July 2006HailWakeeney-Also reported winds to 55 mph.
April 2005Tornado (F1)Wakeeney-This tornado appeard to be very strong but only did F1 damage to a barn that did not take a direct hit.
April 2005Tornado (F0)Wakeeney-This was a brief spinup.
April 2005Tornado (F0)Wakeeney-This tornado did not high anything.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Trees and power lines were blown down
September 2001HailWakeeney-The hail fell for 10 minutes.
June 2000Flash FloodWakeeney-Water over highway 283 along Big Creek.
October 2000Tornado (F0)Wakeeney-Brief tornado moved straight north.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Field cultivator blown over. Corn stripped.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-Four to six inch tree limbs blown down.
June 1997HailWakeeney-Location is WaKeeney.
September 1995HailWakeeney-Water was standing everywhere.
September 1995HailWakeeney-Water was standing everywhere.
May 1995HailWakeeney-Nearly $2 million damage to crops occurred across the county.
August 1993HailWakeeney-One-inch hail was reported at the Cedar Bluff Reservoir.
July 2025HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2024HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2024HailWakeeney-no account filed
June 2024Thunderstorm WindWakeeney-no account filed
May 2023HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2023HailWakeeney-no account filed
June 2023HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2022HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2021HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2021HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2021HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2021HailWakeeney-no account filed
May 2021HailWakeeney-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Trego 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
Voda7.6 miles8
Ogallah8.1 miles14
Trego Center9.6 miles13
Collyer12.7 miles8
Riga13.2 miles14
Fort Downer13.7 miles13

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 WaKeeneyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1641927The 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 472517. 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.