Hail in Kansas, May 15, 2002

Name: Hail in Kansas, May 15, 2002
Start: 2002-05-15T18:47
End: 2002-05-15T20:30
Location: Kansas

May 15, 2002 · NWS GID · 3 events in 2 counties and zones

3 hail, 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: 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 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 15, 1:10 PM CST, 5 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 1:10 PM CST, 5 hours 37 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
210 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2002

SHRTWVS OUT OF TROF EXTENDING FM SCNTRL CANADA ACRS THE SALT LAKE
AND OVR BAJA WL DEFINE THE PRIMARY PROBLEM OF THE DAY.

SMALL CLUSTER OF -TSRA FORMED NR THE KS/NEB BRDR EARLY THIS
AFTN...APPARENTLY ON TAIL END OF IMPULSE SPPRTG MORE WIDESPREAD
ACTIVITY OVR THE OAX CWA.  EXPECT A BRIEF BREAK THIS EVE WITH SHRTWV
RIDGING AS PER 18Z LAPS DPVA AND MID LVL HT TRENDS...BUT WL MONITOR
FOR FINAL ZFP WORDING.

WEAK CDFNT HAS SLOLY PROGRESSED ACRS THE NRN GID CWA TDA IN WAKE OF
AFORE MENTIONED XG SHRTWV.  BNDRY IS EXPECTED TO HANG OVR NCNTRL
KS/SERN NEB BY EVE WITH UPSLOPE FLOW DVLPG AS LOW DPNS OVR WRN KS.
SPPRTG SHRTWV DUE TO X NRN KS OVRNGT/EARLY MRNG.  50+KT LLVL JET ETA
PROGGED TO CONVRG MSTR NR AND N OF THE BNDRY WITH MDL SNDINGS INDG
MODERATE INSTABILITY FM AN ELEVATED LIFT.  WL BUMP POPS TO LIKELY
CATEGORY OVR THE SRN CWA AND MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS FOR TIMING INTO
THE EARLY 2ND PD...FOLLOWED BY SHRTWV RIDGE SUPPRESSION IN THE AFTN.

NXT SIGNIFICANT IMPULSE EXPECTED LATE THU NGT...WL ADJUST FOR THAT
TIMING AS MDLS ARE IN GENL AGRMT.  MSTR WITH THAT WAVE SHOULD BE
CONFINED TO THE MID LVLS WITH FRONT PROGRESSION SWD...AND WITH
INSTABILITY AND LAPSE RATES CURRENTLY PROGGED TO BE LACKING...WL
SCALE BACK POPS AND T MENTION FOR THE 3RD PD WITH CHC NMBRS FOR SRN
CWA ONLY.

WL NOT CHANGE DRY EXTENDED WITH BLOCKING PTN/HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE
OVR THE CNTRL CONUS.  MID WEEK FMR TEMP NBRS LK TOO LOW SO WL
MAINTAIN THE ONGOING WARM PROGNOSIS WITH MINOR ADJUSTMENTS ONLY.

.GID...NONE.

09

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 15, 4:00 PM CST, 2 hours 47 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-152300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
500 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL
NEBRASKA AND NORTH-CENTRAL KANSAS TONIGHT...

A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL COME TO THE AREA TONIGHT...WITH A
FRONTAL BOUNDARY POSITIONED NORTHEAST TO SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE
FORECAST AREA. WITH MOISTURE RETURNING INTO SOUTH AND EASTERN
PORTIONS OF THE REGION THIS EVENING...AND MODERATE INSTABILITY
ALREADY IN PLACE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND PORTIONS OF SOUTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA...ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP OR MOVE INTO THE AREA MAY
PRODUCE MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL OR WIND TONIGHT...MOST LIKELY AFTER 9
PM. THE MAIN RISK AREA IS IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...ALTHOUGH SOUTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA LOCATIONS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 AND EAST OF
HIGHWAY 281 COULD SEE A SEVERE STORM.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND SPOTTER GROUPS...ESPECIALLY THOSE
IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS AND
STATEMENTS.

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Osborne

When: May 15, 6:47 PM CST
Where: Osborne County, 1 mi S of Osborne
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.417, -98.700

Hail, Smith

When: May 15, 7:30 PM CST
Where: Smith County, 2 mi E of Athol
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 39.767, -98.883

Hail, Smith

When: May 15, 8:30 PM CST
Where: Smith County, Womer
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 39.967, -98.700

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

Every storm in Kansas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, May 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: 5302359, 5302360, 5302361.