A very moist airmass was in place during the day of August 9th with a lower level boundary draped from Southeast Kansas through Northern Kansas. As low-level winds increased overnight and interacted with this boundary, heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms developed.
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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 ICT wrote it up.
A very moist airmass was in place during the day of August 9th with a lower level boundary draped from Southeast Kansas through Northern Kansas. As low-level winds increased overnight and interacted with this boundary, heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms developed. Heavy rains from several nights before acted as primer event and with wides spread 2 to 4 inch rain amounts from 9th through the 10th flash flooding occurred in several locations in Southeast Kansas.
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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 9, 6:29 AM CST, 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 729 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 .AVIATION... FOR 12Z TAFS...MAIN AVIATION CONCERN WILL BE SHOWERS AND STORMS. A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND STORMS DEVELOPED OVER NORTHWEST KANSAS OVERNIGHT AS ISENTROPIC LIFT AND MOISTURE TRANSPORT INCREASED ALONG THE 310K SURFACE. THIS AREA OF PRECIP EXPANDED IN COVERAGE AS IT TRACKED EAST OVER CENTRAL KANSAS. THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL AFFECT KSLN AND KCNU THE LONGEST WITH HIGH CONFIDENCE IN CONVECTION CONTINUING THROUGH 16Z. PRECIP WILL BECOME MORE SCATTERED IN NATURE FOR KRSL...KICT AND KHUT AS THE BETTER LIFT SHIFTS EAST AND NORTHEAST. NOT EXPECTING ANY SEVERE STORMS WITH THIS ACTIVITY WITH THE STRONGER STORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL. SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE THIS EVENING AS ANOTHER UPPER WAVE LIFTS OUT OF SOUTHEAST CO. KSLN AND KCNU WILL HAVE THE BEST SHOT THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT TO EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE MORE WIDESPREAD INTENSE STORMS. MEANWHILE IFR CIGS WILL START TO SPILL SOUTH AFFECTING KRSL AND KHUT AFTER 06Z. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 317 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008/ DISCUSSION... MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL/FLOODING TODAY AND TONIGHT. TODAY-SUNDAY: ONGOING MCS ACTIVITY OVER SWRN NE/NWRN-NCNTRL KS EARLY THIS AM IS BEING AIDED BY SHORTWAVE TROF SLIDING OVER THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS...ALONG WITH STRONG MOISTURE TRANSPORT VIA A 30 KT SOUTHERLY LOW-LEVEL JET. ADDITIONAL WIDELY SCATTERED ECHOES DEVELOPING SWD INTO NWRN OK SUPPORTED BY ISENTROPIC LIFT ON THE 310K SURFACE. THE SHORTWAVE TROF WILL SLIDE SEWD ACROSS KS TODAY INTO TONIGHT. STRONGEST 850 CONVERGENCE DURING THE DAY TODAY IS PROGGED ACROSS N-CNTRL/NERN KS WHERE THE HIGHEST RAIN CHANCES SHOULD EXIST. HOWEVER DECENT (50-70%) RAIN CHANCES WILL BE SLATED FOR OUR SOUTHERN COUNTIES GIVEN THE INFLUX OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AND LIFT FROM THE APPROACHING MID-LEVEL WAVE. THE TREND IN THE MODELS HAS BEEN FOR THE AXIS OF STRONGER 850 CONVERGENCE TO SHIFT SWD INTO CENTRAL/SERN KS TONIGHT AIDED ONCE AGAIN BY A 35-40 KT S-SWRLY LOW-LEVEL JET. WARM CLOUD DEPTHS OF 4 KM...PWS OF 2 INCHES...AND SLOW-MOVING NATURE OF CONVECTION MAKE AT LEAST LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY WHERE THE 850 CONVERGENCE ZONE SETS UP. GIVEN THE ABOVE FACTORS ALONG WITH THE FOLLOWING: RECENT HEAVY RAINFALL WITHIN THE PAST 3 DAYS...THE RELATIVELY LOW FFG VALUES IN CENTRAL/SERN KS...AND THE MODERATE RISK FOR FLASH FLOODING IN CENTRAL/SERN KS VIA HPC...WILL ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR A LARGE PART OF CENTRAL/SERN KS FOR TODAY-INTO EARLY SUNDAY AM. HOWEVER THINKING THE MAIN THREAT TIME PERIOD WILL BE TONIGHT. MODELS SUGGEST MOST OF THE RAIN WILL END FROM NW-SE FAIRLY QUICKLY SUNDAY BEHIND THE DEPARTING SHORTWAVE. DID NOT MAKE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO TEMPERATURES...WITH HIGHS LIKELY STAYING A GOOD 8 TO 10 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL BOTH DAYS FOR MUCH OF AREA GIVEN ANTICIPATED RAINFALL/CLOUD COVER AND ONSET OF LIGHT EASTERLY COMPONENT. MONDAY-WEDNESDAY: GFS/ECMWF HINT THAT ADDITIONAL WEAK SHORTWAVE ENERGY WILL EJECT OUT OF THE CENTRAL ROCKIES ACROSS NE/KS MONDAY-MONDAY NIGHT. THERE IS STILL DECENT 850 MOISTURE OVER OUR AREA SO WILL MAINTAIN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS/T-STORMS IN FORECAST. GFS CONTINUES TO PROG WEAK WAVES COMING OUT ACROSS THE REGION TUES-WED WHEREAS THE ECMWF SHOWS MUCH LESS. SO INCLINED TO KEEP TUES-WED DRY FOR NOW. WILL SHOW MODERATING TEMPERATURES DURING THE PERIOD. JMC && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... WICHITA-KICT 83 67 80 66 / 70 80 30 10 HUTCHINSON 82 66 81 65 / 70 80 30 10 NEWTON 82 66 80 65 / 80 90 30 10 ELDORADO 81 65 80 64 / 80 90 40 10 WINFIELD-KWLD 84 68 81 66 / 60 70 40 20 RUSSELL 81 63 81 64 / 80 50 20 20 GREAT BEND 82 65 80 65 / 80 60 20 20 SALINA 80 65 82 65 / 80 70 20 10 MCPHERSON 81 66 81 65 / 80 80 30 10 COFFEYVILLE 83 67 81 65 / 70 80 60 20 CHANUTE 80 65 81 63 / 80 90 60 10 IOLA 80 65 81 63 / 80 90 60 10 PARSONS-KPPF 81 66 81 64 / 80 90 60 20 && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING FOR KSZ032-033-047>053- 069>072-094>096-100. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 447 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-101000- RUSSELL-LINCOLN-BARTON-ELLSWORTH-SALINE-RICE-MCPHERSON-MARION-CHASE- RENO-HARVEY-BUTLER-GREENWOOD-WOODSON-ALLEN-KINGMAN-SEDGWICK-HARPER- SUMNER-COWLEY-ELK-WILSON-NEOSHO-CHAUTAUQUA-MONTGOMERY-LABETTE- 447 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL KANSAS... SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. A FEW STRONG STORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT...HOWEVER THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH MAY LEAD TO FLOODING PROBLEMS. PLEASE REFER TO THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR PART OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER SUNDAY MORNING ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS WHERE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE. THUNDERSTORMS CHANCES SHOULD DIMINISH FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA FROM SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE STRONG OR SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER REPORTS OF FLOODING OR HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. && FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION...SEE OUR WEBPAGE AT (LOWERCASE) HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/WICHITA/HWO/HWO.PHP JMC
The Wichita radar (KICT), 147 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:40 UTC.
5 flood, 3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water was reported over Kansas Highway 14 about 6 miles north of Ellsworth.
Law enforcement reported a county road had been washed out about 7 miles north of Russell.
Old Highway 169 was barricaded due to high water.
Water was flowing over Highway 177 north of Matfield Green.
Water was reported over Highway 99 near mile marker 49 about 5 miles south of Climax.
Numerous roads in the town of Howard were flooded.
Law enforcement reported that water was over Highway 160 at mile markers 382 and 384. At one point, up to 8 inches of water was flowing across the highway near mile marker 384.
Law enforcement reported that numerous county roads south of Elk City were covered with water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 2008
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: 131473, 131481, 131483, 131486, 131467, 131487, 131468, 131470.