Tornadoes in Kansas, May 8, 2001

Name: Tornadoes in Kansas, May 8, 2001
Start: 2001-05-08T17:50
End: 2001-05-08T18:20
Location: Kansas

May 8, 2001 · NWS GID · 3 events in 2 counties and zones

A slow moving thunderstorm developed in the late afternoon and drifted southeast across Jewell and Mitchell counties. The storm produced a couple of tornadoes.

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: 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 happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

A slow moving thunderstorm developed in the late afternoon and drifted southeast across Jewell and Mitchell counties. The storm produced a couple of tornadoes. The first was a brief touchdown east of Jewell, and then a second tornado had a short 2 mile path south of Randall. No damage was reported in either case. One inch hail was reported with this thunderstorm in the town of Jewell and south of Randall.

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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 1:17 PM CST, 4 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 1:17 PM CST, 4 hours 33 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
217 PM CDT TUE MAY 8 2001

MAIN FOCUS FOR THIS PACKAGE IS THE CHANCE FOR CONVECTION AND RAIN
WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY.

18Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS RELATIVELY WEAK PATTERN WITH TROF NEAR A VTN-
LHX LINE. 50+ DEW POINTS WERE POOLED IN A NARROW RIBBON EAST OF
THE TROF FROM SW KS INTO SC NEB. SATELLITE SHOWS CLUSTER OF HIGH
BASED CONVECTION SE NEB ACROSS NRN MO. H7 SHORT WAVE BARELY
DISCERNIBLE IN 12Z ANAL BUT INDENTIFIED BETTER ON PROFILERS APPEARS
TO BE THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE CONVECTION.

FORECAST THROUGH ABOUT NOON WEDNESDAY APPEARS STRAIGHT FORWARD WITH
LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION ON INCREASING SOUTHERLY FLOW AHEAD OF
APPROACHING FRONT/LOW. UPR FLOW REMAINS NORTHWEST WITH NO APPARENT
ADDITIONAL WAVES. SO DRY...WARMER AND WINDIER FORECAST LOOKS RIGHT.
MOS TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE IN GENERAL. MIXING FROM INCREASING WIND
OVERNIGHT SHOULD KEEP READINGS UP A BIT OVERNIGHT.

NEXT SIGNIFICANT UPPER WAVE WAS APPROACHING PACIFIC NORTHWEST WITH
12Z H5 ANALYSIS SHOWING 60M HGT FALLS. MODELS IN ACCORD TAKING THIS
WAVE ACROSS NRN STATES AND SRN CANADA...AND DAMPENING WRN STATES
RIDGE. ZONAL UPPER FLOW TO RESULT ACROSS CENTRAL PLAINS BY WED
AFTERNOON.

SURFACE REFLECTION OF THIS SYSTEM IS A FRONT FORECAST TO CROSS GID
CWA WED NIGHT. AVN IS SIGNIFICANTLY SLOWER WITH THIS SFC SYSTEM AT
36 HOURS AND ETA/NGM SOLUTIONS ON SIMILAR CASES HAVE BEEN SUPERIOR.
INCREASING INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE IN WARM SECTOR AHEAD OF FRONT
MAY LEAD TO WIDESPREAD AND SEVERE STORMS WEDNESDAY EVENING.  WILL
INCLUDE CHANCE FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION INTO NORTHWEST GID CWA ABT
4PM WED AND SPREAD IT SOUTHEAST. POPS IN LIKELY CATEGORY ACROSS NEB
ZONES WED NIGHT...WITH 40 PCT IN KS.

ZONAL FLOW AND STALLING FRONT LEAD TO PERSISTENT CONVECTIVE EVENT
THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. ISENTROPIC LIFT OVER FRONT...DYNAMICS IN
ZONAL UPPER FLOW AND CONTINUOUS FEED OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ALL LEAD
TOWARD A SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY.  HIGH
POPS APPEAR THE WAY TO GO.

MRF & AVN HOLD FRONT AND ZONAL FLOW IN PLACE FRIDAY WITH NEXT WAVE
TO TURN UPPER FLOW TO THE NW AND SFC HIGH TO DRIVE FRONT INTO
SRN KS/OK BY SATURDAY MORNING. AFTER BRIEF UPPER RIDGING AND FAIR
WEATHER SATURDAY...TSTMS RETURN TO FORECAST LATE SUN THROUGH TUES.
NEXT IN SERIES OF UPPER SYSTEMS AGAIN EXPECTED TO FLATTEN THE RIDGE
AND SEND LOW/FRONT ACROSS NEB & KS PRIMARILY SUNDAY AND MONDAY.
SHOWERS MAY LINGER INTO TUESDAY.

.GID...NONE.

SCHURR

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 8, 3:59 PM CST, 1 hour 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
459 PM CDT TUE MAY 08 2001

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

0450 PM    3 S NELSON                NE    .75 INCH HAIL
05/08/01   NUCKOLLS

Local storm report, May 8, 4:18 PM CST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
518 PM CDT TUE MAY 08 2001

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

0514 PM    2 W HARDY                 NE    .75 INCH HAIL
05/08/01   NUCKOLLS

Local storm report, May 8, 5:41 PM CST, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
641 PM CDT TUE MAY 08 2001

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

0620 PM    1 N CLAY CENTER           NE    1 INCH HAIL
05/08/01   CLAY

0625 PM    CLAY CENTER               NE    1.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/01   CLAY

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Jewell

When: May 8, 5:50 PM CST to 5:51 PM CST
Where: Jewell County, 4 mi E of Jewell
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.5 mi
Path width: 40 yd
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.667, -98.067

Brief Touchdown

Tornado, Jewell

When: May 8, 6:15 PM CST to 6:17 PM CST
Where: Jewell County, 4 mi S of Randall
Rating: F0
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 80 yd
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.583, -98.050

Tornado exited Jewell County and entered Mitchell County

Tornado, Mitchell

When: May 8, 6:17 PM CST to 6:20 PM CST
Where: Mitchell County, 6 mi W of Scottsville
Rating: F0
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 80 yd
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.533, -98.067

Tornado entered Mitchell County from Jewell County

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Kansas, 2001 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: 5253600, 5253601, 5253602.