Slow-moving thunderstorms formed along a stationary boundary in eastern Colorado and northwest Kansas during the afternoon and evening, resulting in an isolated tornado, heavy rainfall and a few severe wind reports.
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 GLD wrote it up.
Slow-moving thunderstorms formed along a stationary boundary in eastern Colorado and northwest Kansas during the afternoon and evening, resulting in an isolated tornado, heavy rainfall and a few severe wind reports.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 6, 1:01 PM MST, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 201 PM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 .SHORT TERM... (TONIGHT - WEDNESDAY) 200 PM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 COLD FRONT SLOWLY MAKING ITS WAY THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON. SHORTWAVE TROUGH APPARENT ON WATER VAPOR IN CENTRAL COLORADO WILL LIFT NORTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT RESULTING IN GOOD CHANCES FOR SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ALONG AND NORTH OF THE FRONT PRIMARILY OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. SOME DISCUSSION ABOUT A HEAVY RAIN THREAT...BUT WITH STORM MOTIONS GREATER THAN 10KTS AND NO SATURATED GROUND TO SPEAK OF DO NOT BELIEVE IT WILL BE A WIDESPREAD CONCERN. NONETHELESS...WILL HAVE TO MONITOR FOR POTENTIAL TRAINING GIVEN SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE SURFACE BOUNDARY AND STORM MOTIONS NEARLY PARALLEL TO IT. FRONT FORECAST TO BE DRAPED ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN COUNTIES MONDAY AFTERNOON...AND BEST CHANCES WILL SHIFT TO THOSE AREAS FOR RENEWED CONVECTION. ACTIVITY WILL SETTLE INTO SOUTHWEST KANSAS MONDAY NIGHT WITH THE FRONT. WEAK NORTHWEST FLOW WILL FOLLOW FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. DIFFICULT TO FIND ANY PERTURBATIONS IN THAT FLOW AS QVECTORS BASICALLY FAVOR AREAS TO THE SOUTH FOR SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT. POST FRONTAL LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE FLOW MAY BE ENOUGH TO INITIATE STORMS ON THE HIGHER TERRAIN AREAS OF COLORADO TUESDAY AFTERNOON WITH DAYTIME HEATING AS INDICATED BY THE NAM...SO LEFT SOME SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN THE FAR WEST BUT OTHERWISE DECIDED TO KEEP MOST OF THE AREA DRY. .LONG TERM... (THURSDAY - SUNDAY) 200 PM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 PATTERN CHANGE WILL BE UNDERWAY AS TROUGH SETTLES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND SUBTROPICAL RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY. AS THE PATTERN TRANSITIONS...SHORTWAVE RIDGING WILL BE OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN A COUPLE OF DRY AND HOT DAYS TO START THE PERIOD. AS SOUTHWEST FLOW BECOMES ESTABLISHED TOWARDS THE LATTER PART OF THE PERIOD THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE. A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE TROUGHS WILL BE MOVING THROUGH WITH A DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE FETCH ORIGINATING IN THE BAJA REGION. 24 && .AVIATION... 1126 AM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 FOR 18Z TAFS...MAIN CONCERN WILL BE TSRA DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING AS FRONT HAS STALLED ACROSS THE AREA TO THE SOUTH OF BOTH KGLD AND KMCK. STORM MOTIONS WILL BRING STORMS TO THE NORTH. AT THIS TIME...GLD LOOKS TO HAVE THE BEST POSSIBILITY FOR STORMS AS AIRMASS TO THE SOUTH HAS THE LEAST CLOUD COVER AND SFC FORCING IS STRONGEST ALONG THE FRONT. STORMS SHOULD BE SLOW MOVING AND COULD POSSIBLY SEE MVFR VISIBILITIES IN HEAVIER RAIN. ALSO SOME POTENTIAL FOR IFR CIGS BETWEEN 08-12Z AS FAIRLY HUMID AIRMASS BUILDS INTO AREA BEHIND FRONT. WITH EXPECT CLOUD COVER NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH THINGS WILL COOL OFF ENOUGH FOR FOG/STRATUS FORMATION AND WILL KEEP IFR CIGS OUT OF FORECAST FOR NOW. JRM && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. NE...NONE. CO...NONE. && WFO GOODLAND
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1046 AM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-071645- YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON- SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA- DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW- 1046 AM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 /1146 AM CDT SUN JUL 6 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EAST CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL STALL ACROSS THE AREA TODAY...PROVIDING THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. THIS FRONT WILL BE NEAR A WESKAN TO NORTON LINE THIS AFTERNOON...WITH THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ALONG AND NORTH OF THIS FRONT AFTER 2 PM MDT (3 PM CDT). LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH ANY STORM THAT FORMS. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE SLOWLY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WHICH WILL ALSO BRING THE POSSIBILITY OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND FLASH FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT A LINGERING NORTHEAST TO SOUTHWEST FRONTAL BOUNDARY COUPLED WITH A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES MOVING ALONG IT WILL PROVIDE A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...SOME OF WHICH COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND POTENTIAL FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY IN AREAS THAT RECEIVE SEVERAL PERIODS OF RAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. JRM
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 321 PM MDT SUN JUL 6 2008 KSZ002-003-014-015-062145- DECATUR-RAWLINS-SHERIDAN-THOMAS- 421 PM CDT SUN JUL 6 2008 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR RAWLINS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST KANSAS...DECATUR COUNTY IN NORTHWEST KANSAS...THOMAS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST KANSAS AND SHERIDAN COUNTY IN NORTHWEST KANSAS... AT 418 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM DRESDEN TO REXFORD TO LEVANT...AND MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH. PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 70 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 37 AND 61. THIS INCLUDES HIGHWAY 36 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 73 AND 92. BURTIS
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:23 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
The tornado was visible from the Goodland NWS office and was observed for approximately 5 minutes.
Spotter reported water one foot deep running over county road 10, draining into the Middle Fork of Sappa Creek.
Water was reported to be running over county roads.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2008Warnings in Kansas, July 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: 101233, 101231, 101230, 101234.