Name: Hail in Kansas, May 17, 2001
Start: 2001-05-17T16:25
End: 2001-05-17T16:25
Location: Kansas

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 TOP wrote it up.

Thunderstorms developed over east central Kansas the afternoon of the 17th and many became severe. Numerous reports of large hail were received as well as some damaging winds. The storms also produced heavy rains which resulted in flash flooding (discussed separately).

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 May 17, 2:25 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 2:25 PM CST, 2 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
325 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

PRECIP COVERAGE THIS EVENING THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM IN SHORT
TERM..THEN TEMPERATURES AND RAIN CHANCES AGAIN IN LATER PERIODS.

AVIATION THE MODEL OF CHOICE IN SHORT TERM AS IT IS VERIFYING MUCH
BETTER THAN ETA WITH SURFACE PRESSURE PATTERN. SURFACE ANALYSIS
SHOWS SURFACE LOW IN MKC VCNTY WITH OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM LAST
NIGHTS/THIS MORNINGS CONVECTION IMPINGING ON MKC AREA. ANOTHER
SURFACE LOW SOUTH OF ICT A REFLECTION OF FAIRLY SHARP UPPER TROUGH
SWEEPING EAST ALONG KS/OK BORDER AS SHOWN BY PROFILERS AND SWIRL IN
CLOUDS ON SATELLITE IMAGERY. THESE TWO LOWS THE FOCUS FOR
PRECIPITATION THIS EVENING WHICH MEANS MAIN THREAT FOR
THUNDERSTORMS/HEAVY RAINS IN OUR CWA WILL BE TO SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST
OF TOPEKA OVER EAST CENTRAL KS. CURRENT TRENDS ON RADAR/SATELLITE
INDICATING AREAS NORTHWEST OF KANSAS TURNPIKE MAY NOT SEE MUCH OF
ANYTHING AS SHOWERS MOVING INTO CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL KS HAVE BEEN
DISSIPATING DUE TO THE STRONG COLD ADVECTION. THUNDERSTORMS OVER
EAST CENTRAL KANSAS SHOULD MOVE OUT BY MIDNIGHT AS 850MB/SFC FRONT
SHIFTS SOUTHEAST OUT OF AREA PER AVN.

FRIDAY LOOKING DRY AND MILD WITH PARTLY SUNNY SKIES EXPECTED BY
AFTERNOON AS SURFACE HIGH BUILDS INTO AREA. WILL GO WITH HIGHS IN
THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 70S.

FRIDAY NIGHT SHOULD REMAIN DRY...BUT SATURDAY A TOSS UP AS MODELS
DIVERGE WITH ETA/NGM BRINGING NEXT SYSTEM INTO AREA AT THAT TIME
WHILE AVN HOLDING OFF UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY. HAVE BEEN
CARRYING A CHANCE IN EXTENDED FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW SO WILL CONTINUE
CHANCE POPS FOR SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT.

.TOP...NONE

PB

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 17, 3:36 PM CST, 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
436 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0435 PM    WESTPHALIA                KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   ANDERSON

Local storm report, May 17, 3:43 PM CST, 42 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
443 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0443 PM    2 NW LONE STAR            KS    1 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   DOUGLAS

Local storm report, May 17, 4:01 PM CST, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
501 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
F
0500 PM    LAWRENCE                  KS    .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   DOUGLAS

Local storm report, May 17, 4:04 PM CST, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
504 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0500 PM    3 NE LONE STAR            KS    1 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   DOUGLAS

Local storm report, May 17, 4:16 PM CST, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
516 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
l
0515 PM    LEBO                      KS    .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   COFFEY

Local storm report, May 17, 4:18 PM CST, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
518 PM CDT THU MAY 17 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0517 PM    LEBO                      KS    1 INCH HAIL
05/17/01   COFFEY

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:27 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Osage

When: May 17, 4:25 PM CST
Where: Osage County, Melvern
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.500, -95.633

What these are

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 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, May 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: 5241045.