Name: Flash Flooding and Hail in Kansas, June 3 to 4, 2001
Start: 2001-06-03T22:45
End: 2001-06-04T01:00
Location: Kansas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 forecasters said that day

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 3, 2:14 PM CST, 8 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 2:14 PM CST, 8 hours 31 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
314 PM CDT SUN JUN 3 2001

MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS THE FLOOD FLOOD THREAT TONIGHT...AND SEVERE
WEATHER/FLASH FLOOD THREAT ON MONDAY.

GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE ETA FOR THIS FORECAST AS IT APPEARS TO BEST
HANDLE THE MOVEMENT OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY COMPARED TO THE NGM AND
AVN.

STRONG LOW LEVEL EASTERLY FLOW WAS OCCURRING ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS
THIS AFTERNOON IN THE WAKE OF THIS MORNINGS MCS.  PROFILERS SHOW LOW
LEVEL EASTERLY ARE CAPPED BY WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT...ALTHOUGH SOME
BACKING OF THE WESTERLIES HAS OCCURRED AT HILLSBORO AND NEODESHA.
18Z SOUNDINGS FROM DODGE CITY AND NORMAN INDICATE THE AIRMASS SOUTH
OF THE WARM FRONT IS VERY UNSTABLE...BUT STRONGLY CAPPED.  18Z RUNS
OF THE ETA AND RUC SUGGEST THE WESTERLIES WILL CONTINUE TO BACK THIS
EVENING...WITH GOOD 850 MB MOISTURE CONVERGENCE OCCURRING ACROSS
NORTHERN KANSAS BY LATE EVENING.  WOULD EXPECT STORMS TO BREAK OUT
AFTER DARK...AND MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA.  GROUNDS ARE PRETTY
WET FROM LAST NIGHTS RAINS WILL FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE GENERALLY
RUNNING 1.5 INCHES OR LESS.  WITH THE EAST WEST SURFACE BOUNDARY TO
OUR SOUTH AND STRONG OVERRUNNING DEVELOPING...THINK THE THREAT FOR
HEAVY RAINS LOOKS PRETTY HIGH.  WILL ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR
THE ENTIRE AREA OVERNIGHT.

ETA FORECASTS THE WARM FRONT TO LIFT NORTH TO NEAR INTERSTATE 70 BY
LATE MONDAY.  FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW CAPES OVER 3500 J/KG WITH
0-1KM HELICITIES OVER 150 NEAR THE BOUNDARY.  DEFINITELY SOME THREAT
FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS NEAR THE BOUNDARY.  AREA OF HIGHEST SEVERE
WEATHER POTENTIAL IS HARD NAIL DOWN DUE TO EXPECTED OUTFLOWS FROM
TONIGHTS MCS.  WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS ACROSS NORTH EAST AND EAST
CENTRAL KANSAS MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT...AND CHANCE POPS ACROSS
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

BOUNDARY STILL HANGING AROUND ON TUESDAY SO WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS
GOING ACROSS THE AREA.  AVN AND ETAX FINALLY PUSH BOUNDARY SOUTH OF
THE AREA LATE TUESDAY NIGHT.

GENERALLY PREFER WARM NGM/FWC TEMPERATURES OVER THE AVN BASED MAV
AND FAN GUIDANCE FOR TEMPERATURES.

.TOP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT FOR NORTH CENTRAL.X..NORTHEAST AND
       EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.

58

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:41 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Ottawa

When: June 3, 10:45 PM CST
Where: Ottawa County, 3 mi SE of Tescott
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.133, -97.650 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Brown

When: June 3, 11:40 PM CST to June 4, 1:00 AM CST
Where: Brown County, Hiawatha
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.983, -97.850

Heavy rains produced flash flooding and caused some roads to be covered by water for a time.

Flash Flood, Nemaha

When: June 3, 11:40 PM CST to June 4, 1:00 AM CST
Where: Nemaha County, Seneca
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.784, -96.014 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains produced flash flooding for a time with many roads covered by water for a time.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Kansas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, June 2001

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: 5250786, 5249322, 5249323.