Severe thunderstorms brought hail and tornadoes to north-central Kansas during the late afternoon and evening hours. The first tornado occurred in extreme southern Rooks county just north of the Ellis county line.
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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 GID wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms brought hail and tornadoes to north-central Kansas during the late afternoon and evening hours. The first tornado occurred in extreme southern Rooks county just north of the Ellis county line. Storm spotters around Plainville watched this weak tornado as it moved to the east. No damage occurred. A second thunderstorm produced two tornadoes just a few minutes later in northern Smith county. This supercell was responsible for one tornado just west of Reamsville, and another tornado near Thornburg. The Thornburg tornado was on the ground for about five minutes yet passed over open county. It was reported to have moved between the Thornburg Church and the nearby rural water tower. Several storm chasers also caught a good look at this tornado. No damage was reported.
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 5, 2:12 PM CST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 312 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...MAIN CONCERN IS TORNADO WATCH IN KANSAS CWA UNTIL 9 PM TONIGHT... LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING LOW PRESSURE CENTER NEAR NE SD. SOUTHERLY WINDS HAVE CONTINUES TO PUMP UP SURFACE MOISTURE INTO THE REGION WITH DEW POINTS ACROSS KS PUSHING INTO THE 60S. AN SPC CONFERENCE CALL HAS ELUDED TO A CONCERN FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS DEVELOPING IN THE EARLY EVENING AS CONVECTION BECOMES BETTER ORGANIZED. VIS SATL PIX ALREADY SHOW STUFF STARTING TO BLOSSOM IN SW KS. PROGGED ETA BRN SHEAR...AS WELL AS VGP AND EHI THIS EVENING DO LOOK IMPRESSIVE FOR SUSTAINING A SHEARING ENVIRONMENT ALLOWING STORMS TO DEVELOP A FEW MESOS. WITH MOISTURE CONTINUING TO STREAM IN...THE AIR MASS SHOULD BECOME LESS STABLE WITH TIME AS SUGGESTED BY PROGGED LI/CAPE/TT. ALSO...LCL HGTS GRADUALLY DECREASE AFTER OOZ THIS EVENING OVER MOST OF KS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT CONVECTION TO BE PREVALENT IN KS CWA AND EAST OF THE TRI CITIES. HAIL WILL BE A BIG CONCERN FOR ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WITHIN THE NEBR CWA AS HEFTY 700-500MB LRS LAY OVER STRONG THETA-E CONVERGENCE. THUNDER CHANCES RETURN MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT AS STRONG LOW LEVEL FRONTOGENETIC BOUNDARY ENVELOPES THE AREA...SUGGESTING AN MCS TYPE EVENT. BUT LACKING LOW LEVEL JET AND EASTWARD SKEWED BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE ALLOW ONLY SMALL POPS FOR THOSE PERIODS. WILL CONTINUE SMALL POPS INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR LINGERING SHOWERS. NO BIG CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED. .GID...NONE. DEE
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-061200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1136 AM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY DURING THE EVENING HOURS... THERE IS A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. INITIAL DEVELOPMENT IS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS TEMPERATURES REACH OR SURPASS THE 80 DEGREE MARK. LARGE HAIL APPEARS TO BE THE MAIN THREAT DUE TO VERY COLD TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL FOCUS ALONG A DRY LINE EARLY THIS EVENING. IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL...ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE. BY MIDNIGHT...THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL SHIFT NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KEARNEY TO SUPERIOR. INCREASING WIND FIELDS ARE EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS. DROZD
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-061200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 302 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT... THERE IS A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THROUGH TONIGHT. A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS UNTIL 9 PM. THUNDERSTORMS OVER WEST CENTRAL KANSAS WILL DEVELOP NORTHEASTWARD. SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES. THESE STORMS MAY CROSS THE NEBRASKA BORDER AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES. OTHER STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG A BOUNDARY IN NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND SWEEP INTO AREAS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 TOWARD DUSK. BY MIDNIGHT...THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE CONFINED TO AREAS NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KEARNEY TO SUPERIOR. INCREASING WIND FIELDS ARE EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS. DROZD
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:48 UTC.
5 hail, 3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado was just north of the Rooks/Ellis county line. It was on the ground at the same time as another tornado was occurring just to the south in northern Ellis county. No damage was reported.
A short lived tornado occurred in northern Smith county.
Another short lived tornado in northern Smith county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2002Warnings in Kansas, May 2002
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: 5301804, 5301805, 5301806, 5301807, 5301808, 5301809, 5302354, 5302355.