Tornado and Hail in Kansas, July 10, 2002

Name: Tornado and Hail in Kansas, July 10, 2002
Start: 2002-07-10T16:45
End: 2002-07-10T21:50
Location: Kansas

July 10, 2002 · NWS DDC · 7 events in 4 counties and zones

3 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 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: $9,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 10, 1:45 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 10, 1:45 PM CST, 3 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
245 PM CDT WED JUL 10 2002

DAYS 1-2...

THE UPPER LOW WAS STARTING TO DIG DOWN THE EASTERN PLAINS TODAY,
WITH A PREFRONTAL TROUGH IN SOUTHERN KS, AND THE TRUE COLD FRONT IN
NORTHWEST KS. ANOTHER STRONGER COLD FRONT WAS MOVING INTO NORTHEAST
SOUTH DAKOTA. THE SCENARIO WE ENVISION IS FOR STORMS TO DEVELOP
ALONG THE PREFRONTAL TROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN MOVE SOUTH INTO
OKLAHOMA LATER THIS EVENING. OVERNIGHT, A FEW MORE STORMS COULD
DEVELOP ALONG THE TRUE FRONT AS IT STARTS TO MOVE TROUGH CENTRAL/SW
KS. TEMPS SHOULD BE A FEW DEGREES COOLER THURSDAY BEHIND THE LEADING
FRONT. EVEN COOLER AIR WILL MOVE IN FRIDAY. GOING FCST SEEMS
CONSISTENT WITH THE ABOVE THINKING, SO MAJOR CHANGES ARE NOT
ANTICIPATED. THE ONLY REAL CHANGES WILL BE TO KEEP POPS GOING ALL
NIGHT TONIGHT AND NUDGE TEMPS DOWN A COUPLE DEGREES FOR FRIDAY.

DAYS 3-7...
MODELS REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH DEVELOPING A ERN CONUS TROF OVER THE
WEEKEND AND AMPLIFYING OUR WESTERN CONUS RIDGE. ON MONDAY A
UPPER LOW OVER THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STARTS TO SLIDE BACK
WESTWARD TOWARDS OK/TX. THE 12Z AVN WAS EVEN FURTHER WEST WITH THIS
LOW BY 12Z MONDAY THAN THE MRF/ECMWF AND IF VERIFIED WOULD RETARD
THE WARMUP AND POSSIBLY BRING A SLT CHANCE FOR PCPN TO OUR ERN CWA.
AT THIS TIME CONFIDENCE WITH THIS FEATURE IS LOW BUT GIVEN THE
PREVIOUS FORECAST WAS TRENDING TOWARDS SLT CHC POPS LATE TUESDAY
HAVE OPTED TO LEAVE MENTION OF LOW POPS IN AT THIS TIME. AS FOR
TEMPS WILL CONTINUE WITH PERSISTENCE AND WARM TEMPS BACK INTO THE
90S THROUGH THE FIRST OF THE WEEK BUT WILL TRIM A FEW DEGREES OFF
THE ERN 1/2 OF THE CWA.

FINCH/BURGERT

PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE
CONTAINED WITHIN THE DODGE CITY ZONE FORECAST.

DDC   65  92  63  88 /  30  10   0   0
GCK   65  90  60  89 /  20  10   0   0
EHA   64  90  60  89 /  30  10   0   0
LBL   65  92  62  90 /  30  10   0   0
HYS   64  89  60  88 /  20  10   0   0
P28   70  94  64  90 /  40  20   0   0

.DDC...NONE.

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:45 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Stafford

When: July 10, 4:45 PM CST
Where: Stafford County, Radium
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.167, -98.900

Hail, Pawnee

When: July 10, 5:05 PM CST
Where: Pawnee County, 4 mi SE of Larned
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 38.150, -99.050

Hail, Pawnee

When: July 10, 5:18 PM CST
Where: Pawnee County, 5 mi SE of Larned
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 38.133, -99.033

Thunderstorm Wind, Pawnee

When: July 10, 5:18 PM CST
Where: Pawnee County, 5 mi SE of Larned
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 38.133, -99.033

Thunderstorm Wind, Ford

When: July 10, 6:15 PM CST
Where: Ford County, 9 mi NW of Dodge City
Property damage: $8,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.850, -100.133

Seven power poles blown down in this microburst. In addition, 25 pieces of sheet metal were blown off a shed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Ford

When: July 10, 6:35 PM CST
Where: Ford County, 2 mi SW of Dodge City
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.733, -100.050

A roof was blown off a shed.

Tornado, Seward

When: July 10, 9:49 PM CST to 9:50 PM CST
Where: Seward County, 5 mi E of Liberal
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.3 mi
Path width: 25 yd
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.033, -100.850

A brief tornado occurred in an open pasture.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Kansas, 2002 Warnings in Kansas, July 2002

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: 5310161, 5310162, 5310163, 5310164, 5310165, 5310365, 5310366.