Thunderstorms moved southeast into north central Kansas and produced several reports of strong winds and large hail. One tornado was also reported (discussed separately).
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS TOP wrote it up.
Thunderstorms moved southeast into north central Kansas and produced several reports of strong winds and large hail. One tornado was also reported (discussed separately).
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 8, 2:15 PM CST, 5 hours 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 315 PM CDT TUE MAY 8 2001 TEMPERATURES AND PRECIP CHANCES WED. NIGHT-THURS NIGHT ARE MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS. WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH SOUTHEAST NEB/FAR NORTHERN KS CONTINUES TO DEVELOP SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FAR KS/NE BORDER AREA...ALTHOUGH MAIN LIFT WITH THIS FEATURE TO EXIT THE FAR NORTHEAST CWA BEFORE 6 PM...SO DONT PLAN TO CARRY ANY EVENING POP IN THE EASTERN CWA. CU TO THE WEST IN CONVERGENCE ZONE CONTINUES TO GROW AND WILL ADD WIDELY SCT THUNDERSTORMS ONLY IN THE NORTHCENTRAL FOR THIS EVENING...BEFORE THEY DISSIPATE TOWARDS SUNSET. OTHERWISE WILL GO MOSTLY CLEAR ACROSS THE CWA. A LITTLE MORE BREEZE IN THE WESTERN CWA OVER THE EAST WITH TEMPS MIDDLE 50S WEST TO LOWER 50S EAST TONIGHT. AS TROUGH DEEPENS ON WEDNESDAY...EXPECT WINDS AND TEMPS TO INCREASE. WITH SOUTH WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH NORTHCENTRAL AND 15 TO 25 OVER THE EAST...HIGHS SHOULD BE IN THE MIDDLE 80S WEST AND SOUTH WITH LOWER TO MIDDLE 80S NORTHEAST CORNER. EXPECT MOSTLY SUNNY ACROSS THE SOUTH AND PARTLY CLOUDY OVER THE NORTH. COLD FRONT WILL PUSH SOUTHEAST INTO CENTRAL NEBRASKA WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND SHOULD ALLOW THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD IT AS NEXT SHORTWAVES ADVANCES OUT OF THE ROCKIES AND INTO THE PLAINS. EXPECT MAIN PUSH OF THE THUNDERSTORMS TO BE EASTWARD BUT INCREASING LOW LEVEL JET AND MOISTURE FEED IN ZONAL FLOW SHOULD ALLOW FOR SOME OF THE CONVECTION TO WORK INTO NORTHCENTRAL KANSAS BY MIDNIGHT AND INTO THE NORTHEAST AND POSSIBLY EASTCENTRAL CWA AFTER MIDNIGHT...WITH LOWER CHANCES TO THE SOUTH OF I-70. WILL KEEP POPS ACROSS THE CWA WITH HIGHER POPS IN THE NORTHCENTRAL. THURSDAY/THURSDAY NIGHT FORECASTS BOUNDARY POSITIONS VARY BETWEEN MODELS WITH AVN LEAST AGGRESSIVE WITH SOUTHEAST MOVEMENT. FEEL THE BOUNDARY WITH MAKE IT INTO THE NORTHERN CWA THURSDAY THEN PROGRESS SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE CWA THURSDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY WITH ANOTHER SHORTWAVE IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONVECTION ALONG IT. WILL RAISE TO LIKELY IN NORTHCENTRAL AND SLIGHTLY LOWER POPS TO THE SOUTHEAST THURSDAY...ALTHOUGH THURSDAY NIGHT APPEARS TO BE THE MOST LIKELY PERIOD ACROSS THE CWA BEFORE FRIDAY. WITH EXPECTED CLOUDS AND SOME PRECIP...WILL LOWER THU HIGHS ACROSS NORTHERN CWA TO UPPER 70S WITH LOWER 80S ACROSS THE SOUTH. .TOP...NONE.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
840 PM CDT TUE MAY 08 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0840 PM 5 NE REPUBLIC KS .75 INCH HAIL
05/08/01 REPUBLICThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down briefly near the town of Rydal before dissipating. Although news clippings suggested there may have been 2 separate funnels only one was actually confirmed.
Strong thunderstorm winds damaged a few power lines near Rydal.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2001Warnings in Kansas, May 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: 5240932, 5240933, 5240934.