1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 20, 2:45 PM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 345 PM CDT MON AUG 20 2001 UPR RIDGE WL UNDERGO SOME FLATTENING OVER THE NEXT 72 HOURS, AS A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE IMPULSES LIFT NEWD OUT OF THE SWRN STATES...AND OVER TOP OF THE RIDGE. GENERALLY FOLLOWING THE WARMER ETA SOLUTION FOR THIS FCST, HOWEVER EACH OF THE MODELS WL LIKELY HAVE SOME SHORTWAVE TIMING/PLACEMENT PROBLEMS. TONIGHT: WL ADJUST MINS UP A FEW DEGREES BASED ON SRLY WINDS HOLDING UP AREAWIDE. OTHERWISE, GOING FCST LOOKS GOOD. VORT CENTER OVER SWRN CO THIS PM IS NOT PICKED UP BY THE MODELS, HOWEVER IT SHOULD CONTINUE MOVG NEWD TOWARD NEBRASKA. BETTER 850 CONVERGENCE/WAA OCCURS OVER NEBRASKA AHEAD OF NWD RETREATING WARM FRONT, THUS A DRY FCST PLANNED FOR OUR AREA. TUESDAY: FCST AREA SHOULD REMAIN STRONGLY CAPPED WITH WARM MID LVL TEMPS/LOW SFC DWPTS. DECENT 850 GRADIENT WL LEAD TO BREEZY TO WINDY SWRLY WINDS/SOME DOWNSLOPE COMPONENT. THUS, FAVORING THE WARMER ETA 1000/850 THICKNESS VALUES AND WL ADD A LITTLE TO THAT YIELDING NR RECORD HIGHS IN WICHITA, AND PSBLY RUSSELL. TUE NIGHT: LIS BECOME NEGATIVE ABOVE 800 MB IN CNTRL SXNS, DUE TO STEEP MID LVL LAPSE RATES AND INCREASING 700 THETA-E. HOWEVER, NOT REAL CLEAR ATTM WHAT THE FORCING MECHANISM WL BE TO SUPPORT CONVECTION, SO WL LEAVE PRECIP OUT. MODELS INDICATE A SHORTWAVE TROUGH (OFF THE CA COAST THIS PM) WL LIFT OUT OF CO/NM ACROSS KS/OK LATE WED INTO WED NIGHT. THIS SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO WARRANT SOME SMALL POPS AREAWIDE, AS 850-700 LAYER MOISTURE INCREASES SOME. ALSO MAY EXPERIENCE SOME UPR DIVERGENCE IN EXIT RGN OF WEAK UPR JET STREAK, IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SHORTWAVE. DEGREE OF CLOUD COVER MAY IMPACT HIGHS SOME WITH THE APPROACHING WAVE, THUS WL CONTINUE TREND OF SLIGHTLY LOWER 95-100 HIGHS. EXTENDED PERIOD THURS-MON: AVN/ETA OUT TO 84 HRS BOTH INDICATE RESIDUAL SHORTWAVE ENERGY MOVG EWD OVER KS THURS/THURS NIGHT AND WL RETAIN SLT CHC POPS. ETA THICKNESSES INDICATE 90 TO MID 90S FOR HIGHS. BY FRIDAY, THE AVN 120 HR, CANADIAN, AND UKMET ALL PUSH THE SHORTWAVE ENERGY EAST, INDICATING PCPN CHANCES SHOULD DIMINISH FRIDAY, WHILE THE ECMWF DOES NOT. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE WITH DIFFERENCES IN HANDLING OF THE STRONG UPR TROUGH, MOVG OUT OF THE NERN PACIFIC ACROSS SRN CANADA/NRN U.S. THIS WEEKEND, WITH THE MRF FASTER THAN THE REST. LEANING WITH THE MAJORITY SLOWER RUNS, THERE IS SOME HOPE FOR A BACKDOOR STYLE COLD FRONT SUN-MON, SO WL TREND HIGHS BACK TO NR NORMAL BY MON. PCPN CHANCES LOOK ON ORDER OF 20/30 PCT THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. SOME RECORD HIGHS OF INTEREST FOR TUESDAY (21ST): ICT 105 (1896) RSL 102 (1987) SLN 108 (1922) CNU 101 (1972) FCSTID = 9 ICT 72 103 73 100 / 0 0 10 10 HUT 71 103 72 99 / 0 0 10 10 EWK 72 101 72 98 / 0 0 10 10 EQA 71 101 72 97 / 5 0 10 10 WLD 74 105 74 101 / 0 0 10 10 RSL 70 101 69 97 / 5 5 10 10 GBD 71 102 71 98 / 0 5 10 10 SLN 72 101 72 97 / 5 5 10 10 MPR 72 101 72 97 / 5 5 10 10 CFV 71 99 72 98 / 0 0 10 10 CNU 69 98 71 98 / 5 0 10 10 K88 69 98 71 97 / 5 0 10 10 .ICT...NONE.
The Wichita radar (KICT), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:03 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Oil battery struck. After being extinguished, tank re-ignited explosively, setting fire to four nearby tanks. All five tanks were allowed to burn themselves out during the night when firefighters determined that fires wouldn't spread beyond the confines of the tanks.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 2001
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: 5256762.