Low-topped convection in a highly sheared environment brought a narrow path of straight line wind damage from South Central Coffey County beginning around 11:45 pm on January 7th and extending Northeast through West Central and Central Anderson County through approximately 12:40 am on January 8th. Damage was done to trees and power poles and a couple of outbuildings.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 TOP wrote it up.
Low-topped convection in a highly sheared environment brought a narrow path of straight line wind damage from South Central Coffey County beginning around 11:45 pm on January 7th and extending Northeast through West Central and Central Anderson County through approximately 12:40 am on January 8th. Damage was done to trees and power poles and a couple of outbuildings.
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 Jan 7, 3:58 PM CST, 7 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 358 PM CST MON JAN 7 2008 .DISCUSSION... INTERESTING FORECAST FOR TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. LATEST WATER VAPOR LOOP AND PROFILERS SHOW A 70 KT JET AT 500 MB ACROSS OKLAHOMA ACROSS SOUTHEAST KANSAS INTO SOUTHWEST MISSOURI THIS AFTERNOON. BROAD UPPER TROUGH WAS OVER THE WESTERN STATES WITH A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES ROTATING THROUGH THE TROUGH AND AIMING FOR THE PLAINS. FRONTAL BOUNDARY HAS MOVED BACK SOUTH A LITTLE THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE FRONT AT 21Z ROUGHLY FROM NEAR LAWRENCE TO NEWTON. LATEST MESO ANALYSIS SHOWS MUCAPES OF 500 J/KG ACROSS EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. MOST OF THE CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY HAS DEVELOPED SOUTHEAST OF THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. WILL KEEP A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING ACROSS EAST CENTRAL KANSAS WITH FRONT IN THE AREA AND ANOTHER SHORTWAVE EJECTING NORTHEAST FROM NEW MEXICO THIS EVENING. A STRONGER WAVE MOVES OUT OVERNIGHT AND DEVELOPS A SURFACE LOW ALONG THE FRONT IN THE PANHANDLE THEN IT RIDES THE FRONT NORTHEAST INTO ILLINOIS BY 12Z TUESDAY. AMOUNT COLD AIR BEHIND THE FRONT IS STILL A QUESTION MARK AS TO HOW COOL THE LAYER THICKNESS PROFILES WILL GET FOR A CHANGE OVER TO SNOW TONIGHT ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. TOOK A COMBINATION OF THE ECMWF...UKMET AND GFS THERMAL PROFILES FOR TONIGHT. A DEFORMATION ZONE WILL FORM LATE TONIGHT ACROSS EAST CENTRAL BACK INTO CENTRAL KANSAS WITH STRIPE OF ACCUMULATING SNOW POSSIBLE AROUND AN INCH OR SO. WENT WITH A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS AND RAIN SOUTH OF THE TURNPIKE. LOWS TONIGHT WILL DROP DOWN TO AROUND FREEZING IN NORTHEAST KANSAS WITH UPPER 30S SOUTHEAST OF I-35. FOR TUESDAY THE FORCING WITH THE UPPER TROUGH WILL MOVE EAST BY LATE MORNING OR EARLY AFTERNOON. THERMAL PROFILES SUGGEST RAIN AND SNOW WITH A CHANGE TO ALL SNOW IN PARTS OF NORTHEAST KANSAS BY 15Z. TEMPERATURES MODIFY IN THE AFTERNOON WITH DECREASING CLOUDS. HIGHS IN THE LOW TO MID 40S STILL LOOK ON TRACK. FOR TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING ACROSS THE MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TUESDAY EVENING WILL HAVE CONSIDERABLE SUBSIDENCE BEHIND IT AND CLEARING SKIES. SURFACE RIDGE THEN MOVES EWD ACROSS ERN KS TUESDAY NIGHT WITH LIGHTER WINDS. WINDS THEN TURN SOUTHERLY ON WEDNESDAY AHEAD OF NEXT SHORTWAVE THAT WILL AFFECT AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. BOTH NAM AND GFS INTENSIFY THIS SYSTEM WED NIGHT...WITH BOTH SIMILAR IN MANY FEATURES. GFS...HOWEVER...HAS CONSIDERABLY MORE QPF ASSOCIATED WITH IT. 12Z ECMWF COMES IN SIMILAR TO NAM WITH MAIN QPF DEVELOPING EAST OF AREA. THIS SEEMS PLAUSIBLE AND HAVE GONE WITH THIS MORE CONSERVATIVE FCST. THUS...HAVE UPPED POPS ONLY A LITTLE FROM GOING FCST. PRECIP TYPE OF SOME DEBATE AS TEMPERATURE PROFILES AT START OF PRECIP CHANCES WED NIGHT WARM ENOUGH FOR RAIN. HOWEVER...THICKNESSES RAPIDLY DROP AS DYNAMIC COOLING TAKES PLACE DURING SYSTEM INTENSIFICATION. THUS...HAVE INDICATED MOSTLY SNOW CHANCES FOR LATER WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY...EVEN THOUGH THE CHANCES FOR ANYTHING MEASURABLE WILL BE LOW. THE LONG LONG TERM...FRI-MON...MAIN FEATURES CONTINUE TO BE A EASTERN PACIFIC RIDGE...AND LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN UNITED STATES. LOCAL AREA TO REMAIN UNDER NORTHWESTERLY FLOW THROUGH THE PERIOD. SEVERAL SHORTWAVES WORK THEIR WAY THROUGH THE FLOW REGIME...AND LONG RANGE MODELS FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH ONE ANOTHER HANDLING THE NUMBER OF WAVES EMBEDDED IN THE MEAN FLOW. WEAK COLD FRONTS WILL ALSO SLIP ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA DURING THIS TIME FRAME. BUT...PERSISTENT NORTHWESTERLY FLOW BOTH ALOFT AND AT THE SURFACE WITH LITTLE CHANCE FOR MOISTURE RETURN BETWEEN FRONTAL PASSAGES...AND CONSISTENT DEPICTION OF BEST LARGE SCALE LIFT TO DROP SOUTH OF THE LOCAL AREA...HAVE MAINTAINED DRY FORECAST. WEAK COLD PUSH TO SLIDE IN BEHIND EACH OF THE WEAK FRONTS...AND HAVE COOLED GOING TEMPERATURES BY A DEGREE OR TWO...BUT CONTINUE TO EXPECT NEAR NORMAL READINGS THROUGH THE PERIOD. KONOP && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 08Z TONIGHT WITH MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS WITH RAIN DEVELOPING IN THE 08Z-11Z PERIOD. BEYOND 11Z WIDESPREAD MVFR WITH ISOLD IFR CIGS AND VSBYS WITH SNOW AND RAIN ARE EXPECTED THROUGH 17Z. FRONT HAS MOVED SOUTH OF KTOP AND KFOE SO EXPECT A NORTHWEST WIND THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 410 PM CST MON JAN 7 2008 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-081115- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 410 PM CST MON JAN 7 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER EAST CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING...MAINLY SOUTHEAST OF INTERSTATE 35. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS A GOOD BET ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS LATER TONIGHT...BUT ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD BE AN INCH OR LESS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATION TUESDAY MORNING...GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE 70 CORRIDOR. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE STRENGTH OF THE STORM...STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES. ANOTHER CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW WILL OCCUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY...AS ANOTHER SYSTEM INTENSIFIES ACROSS THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:55 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Large tree limbs were downed. Measured eight to ten inch diameter trees were sheared off at the top and blown eastward.
Approximately eight six-line powerlines snapped of a quarter of the way from the top. The powerlines were blown eastward onto the road.
Several live tree limbs measuring eight to ten inches in diameter were found along a small creek bed.
A trained spotter had digital anemometer mounted four to five feet above the roof of his house. Large tree limbs were downed on his property.
Thunderstorm winds sheared off the top quarter to third of trees measuring ten to twelve inches in diameter. Two grain bins were blown over, an outbuilding was toppled and a large tree was blown onto a house.
Thunderstorm winds blew a carport over. Roofing on a garage was torn off from west to east.
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, January 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: 73740, 73738, 73739, 74231, 74206, 74205.