Kansas, 1999

Tornado and Hail in Kansas, May 15, 1999

May 15, 1999 · NWS GID · 2 events in 1 county or zone

A brief tornado touch down in central Rooks county during the early evening. During the tornado's 3 mile path, two farmsteads were hit.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$15,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

A brief tornado touch down in central Rooks county during the early evening. During the tornado's 3 mile path, two farmsteads were hit. Most of the damage was to trees or wind breaks. Some trees were uprooted. A fence and a few outbuildings were damaged or destroyed on one farm.

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Rooks

When
May 15, 6:02 PM CST to 6:12 PM CST
Where
Rooks County, Stockton to 5 mi SW of Stockton
Rating
F1
Path length
3 mi
Path width
50 yd
Property damage
$15,000
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
39.380, -99.350

Hail, Rooks

When
May 15, 6:17 PM CST
Where
Rooks County, 1 mi E of Stockton
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
39.430, -99.270

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Kansas in 1999Every state in 1999This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 1999Warnings in Kansas, May 1999

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5698713, 5698714.