Hail and Heavy Rain in Kansas, June 28, 2003

Name: Hail and Heavy Rain in Kansas, June 28, 2003
Start: 2003-06-28T19:55
End: 2003-06-28T22:00
Location: Kansas

June 28, 2003 · NWS GID · 9 events in 4 counties and zones

Thunderstorms across north-central Kansas dumped heavy rain and hail. The strongest thunderstorm was north of Osborne, and dropped golf ball size hail and from 1 to 3 inches of rain.

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: $40,000
Crop damage: $450,000
Events: 9

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 happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

Thunderstorms across north-central Kansas dumped heavy rain and hail. The strongest thunderstorm was north of Osborne, and dropped golf ball size hail and from 1 to 3 inches of rain. Runoff from small streams and creeks resulted in minor flooding in rural areas. A county road near the Shade Bend Golf Course near Osborne was impassable for a time due to high water. Officially, Portis reported 2.50 inches and Osborne 1.60 inches of rain. Thunderstorms also rumbled across parts of Rooks, Mitchell and Smith counties.

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 Jun 28, 2:07 PM CST, 5 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 28, 2:07 PM CST, 5 hours 48 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
307 PM CDT SAT JUN 28 2003

...FORECAST CONCERN THIS PERIOD IS DEVELOPMENT AND MOVEMENT OF MCS
OVERNIGHT WITH POSSIBLE HEAVY RAIN AND THEN WHERE IT IS SUNDAY...

SURFACE ANALYSIS HAS FRONT TO OUR SOUTH FROM AROUND BIE TO NEAR
HYS. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE OVER CENTRAL NEBRASKA. DEWPOINTS RUNNING
FROM 55 TO 60 OVER THE CWA. UPPER AIR ALONG WITH SATELLITE IMAGERY
DEPICTS APPROACHING SHORT WAVE FROM WESTERN SDAK. SCENARIO LOOKS
LIKE MCS DEVELOPMENT OVER HIGH PLAINS WITH ESE MOVEMENT INTO OUR
AREA OVERNIGHT.  LOW LEVEL JET...850 THETA E RIDGE...SURFACE FRONT
AND 850 FRONT WOULD POINT TO BEST CHANCE OF HEAVY RAIN ACROSS OUR
KS AND SW NEB PORTIONS OF THE CWA.  PROJECTED PRECIPITABLE WATER
VALUES RANGE FROM AN INCH IN NORTHERN CWA TO 1.6 INCHES SOUTH.  WILL
NEED TO MENTION HEAVY RAIN FOR THAT AREA BUT WILL HOLD OFF ON ANY FF
WATCH FOR NOW.

BOTH META AND GFS CONTINUE TO SPIN UP INTENSE VORT MAX WITH
APPROACHING WAVE WITH THE QUESTION BEING...DO WE HAVE A CONVECTIVE
FEEDBACK PROBLEM OR WILL WE GET A NEDDY EDDY?  COULD BE FOR REAL AS
IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH UPSTREAM WAVE. REGARDLESS...LOOKS LIKE IT WILL
BE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE CWA BY SUNDAY NOON. THUS WILL BUCK
SURROUNDING TREND AND KEEP OUR AREA DRY FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING
WITH GOOD SUBSIDENCE BEHIND SYSTEM.

NO MAJOR CHANGES NEEDED AT THIS TIME TO REST OF FORECAST WITH
RIDGING STILL EXPECTED FOR UPCOMING WEEK.

.GID...NONE.

EWALD

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 28, 6:58 PM CST, 57 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-291200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
758 PM CDT SAT JUN 28 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR A PORTION OF SOUTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AFTER 9 PM. THE AREA AT
MOST RISK IS SOUTH OF A LEXINGTON TO SUPERIOR NEBRASKA LINE...AND
INCLUDES ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. LARGE HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN
DIAMETER...AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE THE MAIN
SEVERE WEATHER HAZARDS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ALREADY IN
EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM...FOR PORTION OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA ALONG
AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 183. IN ADDITION...HEAVY RAINFALL OF 1 TO 3
INCHES IS POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 136. THIS MAY
RESULT IN LOCALIZED FLOODING PROBLEMS.

A COMPLEX OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL ORGANIZE OVER SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA
AND NORTHWEST KANSAS LATE THIS EVENING. THIS AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS
WILL TRACK EAST SOUTHEAST ALONG A SURFACE BOUNDARY. THE ATMOSPHERE
IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND WIND SHEAR PARAMETERS ARE SUPPORTIVE OF
ORGANIZED...AND AT TIMES SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. THE STORMS
WILL MOVE INTO A MOISTURE RICH ENVIRONMENT SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...
AND DUMP SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS PORTIONS OF FAR SOUTHERN
NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. RAIN AMOUNTS OF UP TO 3 INCHES
ARE NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL LINGER FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
AND NEBRASKA COUNTIES ALONG THE KANSAS BORDER ON SUNDAY...BEFORE
DWINDLING BY MONDAY UNDER BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS EVENING OVER NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS AND PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA NEAR THE STATE LINE.

MORITZ

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 hail, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Osborne

When: June 28, 7:55 PM CST
Where: Osborne County, 3 mi S of Portis
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Crop damage: $75,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.517, -98.700

Hail, Smith

When: June 28, 7:55 PM CST
Where: Smith County, Lebanon
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: $125,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.817, -98.550

Heavy Rain, Osborne

When: June 28, 8:00 PM CST to 10:00 PM CST
Where: Osborne County, Countywide
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.350, -98.768 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, Rooks

When: June 28, 8:10 PM CST
Where: Rooks County, 3 mi S of Palco
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.200, -99.567

Hail, Osborne

When: June 28, 8:25 PM CST
Where: Osborne County, 3 mi N of Osborne
Measured: 1 in hail
Crop damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.483, -98.700

Hail, Rooks

When: June 28, 8:45 PM CST
Where: Rooks County, 2 mi S of Stockton
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Crop damage: $75,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.400, -99.283

Hail, Osborne

When: June 28, 9:02 PM CST
Where: Osborne County, Alton
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Crop damage: $75,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.467, -98.950

Hail, Rooks

When: June 28, 9:15 PM CST
Where: Rooks County, 12 mi NE of Plainville
Measured: 1 in hail
Crop damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.350, -99.133

Hail, Mitchell

When: June 28, 9:43 PM CST
Where: Mitchell County, 5 mi S of Glen Elder
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.433, -98.300

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, June 2003

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: 5366636, 5366637, 5366638, 5366639, 5366640, 5366641, 5366642, 5366643, 5366644.