Hail and Lightning Strike in Kansas, May 6, 2002

Name: Hail and Lightning Strike in Kansas, May 6, 2002
Start: 2002-05-06T18:30
End: 2002-05-06T18:55
Location: Kansas

May 6, 2002 · NWS TOP · 5 events in 3 counties and zones

4 hail, 1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: $5,000
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 May 6, 2:30 PM CST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 6, 2:30 PM CST, 4 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
330 PM CDT MON MAY 6 2002

TIMING AND PLACEMENT OF THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE TO BE THE MAIN
CONCERN

THUNDERSTORMS FROM LAST NIGHT HAVE GENERATED AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY
WHICH WAS LOCATED IN THE VICINITY OF CNK TO EMP TO JLN. EXPECT THIS
BOUNDARY TO BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT AGAIN
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH SEVERE WEATHER A THREAT. 18Z
SOUNDING AGAIN SHOWED AN DECENT CAP. AFTER MODIFYING THE SOUNDING
FEEL THAT WITH MID 60 DEWPOINTS AND TEMPS IN THE MID TO UPPER 80S
ACROSS CENTRAL KS...CAP WILL BREAK THERE FIRST. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD
AGAIN FORM INTO AN MCS AND MOVE INTO MO OVERNIGHT. CONSIDERED A
FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE EASTERN ZONES. HOWEVER WITH UNCERTAINTY IN
WHERE THE MCS WILL ACTUALLY DEVELOP...DECIDED NOT TO ISSUE ONE.
ALSO...RAINFALL FROM LAST NIGHT AVERAGED A HALF TO THREE QUARTERS
WITH SOME ISOLATED SPOTS GETTING MORE THAN AN INCH. NEVER THE LESS
WILL HAVE TO WATCH RAINFALL CLOSELY TONIGHT.

THE SAME SETUP REMAINS IN PLACE THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS SURFACE LOW
REMAINS OVER SOUTHERN KS...A MOIST UNSTABLE AIRMASS STAYS PUT AND
WEAK DISTURBANCES MOVE OVERHEAD IN THE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW. KEPT
CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH WEDNESDAY. I SPREAD THE CHANCE FOR
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WHOLE CWA TOMORROW TO ACCOUNT FOR
ANY LEFT OVER PRECIP FROM THE MCS.

COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA WEDNESDAY EVENING
PUSHING THE MOISTURE TO THE SOUTH. WITH SURFACE RIDGING ACROSS THE
AREA I CONTINUED A DRY FORECAST THURSDAY. I ALSO REMOVED POPS DURING
THE DAY FRIDAY THINKING THAT THE MOISTURE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN
IN TIME. MODELS DO SHOW LEE TROUGH DEEPENING FRIDAY AFTERNOON SO
CONTINUED WITH THE POPS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT AS SOUTHERLY FLOW AND WAA
TO BEGIN AGAIN. WITH THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST...FOLLOWED THE
MORE AMPLIFIED OUTPUTS FROM THE MODELS. THE 00Z MRF WAS KIND OF THE
OUTLYER...HOWEVER THE 12Z AVN HAS COME MORE IN LINE WITH THE ECMWF
AND OTHERS. MODELS SHOW THE LEE TROUGH TO MOVE OUT INTO THE PLAINS
SATURDAY WITH A SHORTWAVE PROPAGATING THROUGH THE CENTRAL ROCKIES
SO I ADDED POPS INTO SATURDAY AND KEPT THEM INTO SUNDAY BEFORE A
PACIFIC FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA LATE SUNDAY OR SUNDAY NIGHT.

.TOP...NONE

WOLTERS

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 6, 5:44 PM CST, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
644 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0640 PM    5 WSW JUNCTION CITY       KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   GEARY

Local storm report, May 6, 5:47 PM CST, 43 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
647 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0645 PM    JUNCTION CITY             KS    1 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   GEARY                           REPORTED BY STORM
                                           SPOTTER.

Local storm report, May 6, 5:50 PM CST, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
650 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0646 PM    JUNCTION CITY JCT 18-77     KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   GEARY                             TRAINED SPOTTER

Local storm report, May 6, 6:06 PM CST, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
706 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0649 PM    3 SE OGDEN                KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   RILEY                           PUBLIC REPORTED DIME
                                           SIZE HAIL

Local storm report, May 6, 6:15 PM CST, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
715 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0712 PM    5 W OGDEN                 KS    1 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   RILEY

Local storm report, May 6, 6:16 PM CST, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
716 PM CDT MON MAY 06 2002

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

0714 PM    4 W OGDEN                 KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/06/02   RILEY

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Geary

When: May 6, 6:30 PM CST
Where: Geary County, 5 mi NE of Junction City
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 39.083, -96.767

Hail, Riley

When: May 6, 6:39 PM CST
Where: Riley County, 7 mi S of Manhattan
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 39.083, -96.583

Lightning, Riley

When: May 6, 6:45 PM CST
Where: Riley County, 1 mi E of Ogden
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.297, -96.735 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning struck a shop and ignited a fire that destroyed part of the shop.

Hail, Dickinson

When: May 6, 6:45 PM CST
Where: Dickinson County, 4 mi S of Elmo
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 38.633, -97.233

Hail, Riley

When: May 6, 6:55 PM CST
Where: Riley County, Manhattan
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.183, -96.583

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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: 5290973, 5290974, 5290975, 5290976, 5290977.