Kansas, 2001

Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, September 7, 2001

September 7, 2001 · NWS TOP · 5 events in 4 counties and zones

3 hail, 2 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$175,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
5

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 Sep 7, 3:20 PM CST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 3:20 PM CST, 1 hour 6 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
420 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2001

SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL THE IMMEDIATE FORECAST
CONCERNS.

ATMOSPHERE IS PRIMED WITH LAPS SHOWING CAPES IN THE 2500-3500 RANGE
OVER EASTERN KS. WATER VAPOR SHOWS UPPER LOW OVER WESTERN OKLAHOMA
PANHANDLE AND SHIFTING EAST. FRONT IS OVER CENTRAL KS WITH
THUNDERSTORMS BEGINNING TO FIRE. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS OUT
FOR MUCH OF CWA. HAVE ALSO ISSUED FLOOD WATCH FOR EASTERN HALF OF
CWA GENERALLY EAST OF A SENECA TO WESTMORELAND TO COUNCIL GROVE LINE
AS AREA WILL BE IN NORTHEAST QUAD OF UPPER LOW WITH PRECIPITABLE
WATERS IN THE 1.5 TO 2 INCH RANGE PER MODELS. WOULDNT BE SURPRISED
TO SEE SOME AREA GETTING UP TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN. MODELS ACTUALLY
MOVE PRECIPITATION ON OUT FAIRLY FAST AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH RAIN
LIKELY TO BE OVER BY SUNRISE. HOWEVER...NEXT SYSTEM DROPS RAPIDLY
INTO WESTERN KS ON SATURDAY AND MODELS INDICATING PRECIPITATION
TO SPREAD EAST INTO NORTH CENTRAL KS IN THE AFTERNOON WHERE HAVE
GONE WITH 30-40 PERCENT POPS...WILL LEAVE NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL
KS DRY UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT.

FOR SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...WILL GO WITH 50 PERCENT POPS ACROSS
CWA AS NEXT UPPER TROUGH MOVES SLOWLY ACROSS.

TEMPWISE...GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 50S TO LOWER 60S LOOK
REASONABLE FOR TONIGHT. FOR SATURDAY...HAVE RAISED TEMPERATURES SOME
OVER PREVIOUS FORECAST AS BOTH ETA/FWC MOS INDICATING HIGHS FROM THE
LOWER 80S EAST CENTRAL TO MIDDLE 70S NORTH CENTRAL.
H9HOWEVER...BELIEVE WILL STILL HAVE QUITE A FEW CLOUDS...AND WITH
FRONT HAVING PASSED THROUGH THE AREA PER ETA/AVN...DECIDED TO GO
WITH AROUND 70 NORTH CENTRAL AND INTO THE MIDDLE/UPPER 70S EAST
CENTRAL. WITH ALL CLOUDS AND POSSIBLE PRECIPITATION SUNDAY...THE
COOLER FAN/MAV NUMBERS LOOKED BETTER.

.TOP...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 2 AM SATURDAY MORNING FOR AREAS ALONG
       AND EAST OF A SENECA TO WESTMORELAND TO COUNCIL GROVE LINE.

38

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:26 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Dickinson

When
September 7, 4:26 PM CST to 4:34 PM CST
Where
Dickinson County, 1 mi S of Upland
Rating
F1
Path length
4 mi
Path width
200 yd
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
39.067, -97.017

A tornado touched down just south of Upland and moved northeast over mostly open country doing some power line damage. The tornado crossed into Geary county at 4:34 pm.

Hail, Dickinson

When
September 7, 4:29 PM CST
Where
Dickinson County, Upland
Measured
2 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
39.083, -97.017

Hail, Republic

When
September 7, 4:34 PM CST
Where
Republic County, 3 mi W of Norway
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
39.700, -97.833

Tornado, Geary

When
September 7, 4:34 PM CST to 4:50 PM CST
Where
Geary County, 5 mi SSW of Milford
Rating
F1
Path length
8 mi
Path width
200 yd
Property damage
$170,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
39.100, -96.950

The tornado mentioned above entered Geary county at 4:34 pm 5 miles southsouthwest of Milford and moved northeast across Lake Milford before dissipating 3 miles east of the town of Milford. A powerline substation was destroyed along with a 5,100 square foot maintenance facility near Lake Milford. A farmstead along the path of the tornado suffered considerable damage.

Hail, Clay

When
September 7, 4:35 PM CST
Where
Clay County, 4 mi S of Wakefield
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
39.167, -97.017

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.
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 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2001Warnings in Kansas, September 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: 5266486, 5266487, 5266488, 5266800, 5266489.