An ironic twist of fate came to Manhattan the evening of the 17th. An EF-4 tornado had demolished portions of the Miller Ranch neighborhood in Manhattan just a week before.
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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 TOP wrote it up.
An ironic twist of fate came to Manhattan the evening of the 17th. An EF-4 tornado had demolished portions of the Miller Ranch neighborhood in Manhattan just a week before. One house in the neighborhood sustained no tornado damage. Non-severe thunderstorms on the 17th brought numerous cloud to ground lightning strikes. One strike struck the untouched home in the Miller Neighborhood. A fire broke out in the attic, and caused several thousands of dollars in damage.
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 Jun 16, 2:18 PM CST, 10 hours 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 318 PM CDT MON JUN 16 2008 .DISCUSSION... AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAS REMAINED SOUTH AND WEST OF THE CWA TODAY...WITH JUST A FEW SHOWERS BRUSHING THE FAR WESTERN AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA. UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AXIS WILL REMAIN OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE HAS WORKED INTO THE DAKOTAS AND HAVE SEEN DRIER AIR ADVECTING INTO NORTHEAST KANSAS TODAY. SURFACE HIGH WILL BE CENTERED OVER IOWA AND MISSOURI OVERNIGHT WITH FOCUS FOR CONVECTION REMAINING OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL KS. HAVE KEPT SOME SLIGHT CHANCE POPS GOING IN THE FAR WESTERN PORTION OF THE CWA TONIGHT. ON TUESDAY...THE SURFACE HIGH SHIFTS EASTWARD. SURFACE WINDS VEER TO SOUTHERLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE RETURNS TO CENTRAL KANSAS...SO HAVE EASED SLIGHT CHANCE POPS A LITTLE FARTHER EAST WITH TIME. OTHERWISE HAVE LOWERED TEMPS A FEW DEGREES TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. STARK TUESDAY NIGHT...AN INTENSE CLOSED 5H LOW OVER SOUTHWEST ONTARIO...CANADA WILL DIG SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES STATES...WHILE THE 5H RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN CONUS AMPLIFIES. THE MID TO UPPER LEVEL FLOW WILL VEER MORE TO THE NORTHWEST ACROSS THE PLAINS. THE ECMWF AND GFS BOTH SHOW DEEP MOISTURE ADVECTION ON TO THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS...AROUND THE WESTERN SIDE OF A SFC RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN MIDWEST AND EASTERN PLAINS. BOTH MODELS SHOW DEEP MOIST CONVECTION DEVELOPING ON THE HIGH PLAINS AND CONGEALING INTO AN MCS TUESDAY EVENING...WHICH WILL THEN MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS WESTERN KS AND SOUTH CENTRAL KS. IM IN AGREEMENT WITH BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF MODELS AND WILL KEEP PRECIP CHANCES WEST AND SOUTH OF THE CWA. HOWEVER...THE NAM MODEL SHOWS A STRONGER 5H VORT MAX ROUNDING THE RIDGE AND MOVING FARTHER EAST ACROSS THE CWA. IF THE NAM SOLUTION WERE TO VERIFY WE MAY HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE AND LIFT FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND PERHAPS AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM THROUGH THE NIGHT. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S WITH PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY. WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THE DEEPER GULF MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO ADVECT FARTHER NORTHWARD ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PLAINS. THE MODELS SHOW ANOTHER POSSIBLE MCS DEVELOPING ACROSS SOUTHWEST NE AND MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST DUE TO THE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THE EASTERN FRINGE OF THE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX MAY MOVE EAST ACROSS THE WESTERN CWA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. HIGHS ON WEDNESDAY WILL BE IN THE LOWER TO MID 80S WITH PARTLY SUNNY SKIES. THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...THE DEEP MOIST AXIS ACROSS WESTERN KS AND OK WILL EXPAND NORTHEAST INTO EASTERN KS AS THE SFC RIDGE TRANSLATES EAST INTO THE MID AND LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY. THE UPPER FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO BE NORTHWESTERLY BUT WEAKEN AS THE 5H RIDGE MOVES CLOSER TOWARDS THE HIGH PLAINS. MINOR 5H TROUGHS ROUNDING THE 5H RIDGE OR MCVS EMBEDDED IN THE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT MAY PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE CWA THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON. I KEPT LOW CHANCE POPS DURING THURSDAY NIGHT IN CASE AN MCS DEVELOP ON THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF WESTERN NE AND MOVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE CWA. HIGHS WILL BE IN THE LOWER TO MID 80S...THOUGH HIGHS MAY BE SLIGHTLY COOLER IF CLOUD COVER AND RAIN CHANCES INCREASE. SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY...BOTH THE ECMWF AND GFS SHOW THE 5H RIDGE MOVING EAST INTO THE PLAINS BY MONDAY. THE GFS IS MORE AMPLIFIED THAN THE GFS WITH THE 5H RIDGE AXIS AND IF IT WERE TO VERIFY TEMPERATURES WOULD BE WARMER AND RAIN CHANCES WOULD BE BELOW 10 PERCENT. ECMWF IS NOT AS AMPLIFY AND CONTINUES TO GENERATE AREAS OF QPF ACROSS THE CWA. ATTM IM LEANING A BIT MORE TOWARDS THE GFS AND WILL KEEP POPS SUNDAY AND MONDAY AT 14 PERCENT...BUT CANNOT RULE OUT SOME WEAK PULSE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...SINCE WE WILL HAVE DEEP GULF MOISTURE IN PLACE. HIGHS WILL WARM INTO THE MID TO UPPER 80S ON SATURDAY...WITH UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S SUNDAY AND MONDAY. WG .AVIATION... DRIER AIR WORKING INTO NORTHEAST KS ATTM WILL CONTINUE TO ALLOW MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS TO SCATTER OUT LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS EVENING. VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE TAF SITES AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER IOWA AND MISSOURI OVERNIGHT. STARK && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. DRIER AIR WORKING INTO NORTHEAST KS ATTM WILL CONTINUE TO ALLOW MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS TO SCATTER OUT LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS EVENING. VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE TAF SITES AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER IOWA AND MISSOURI OVERNIGHT. STARK/WG &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 345 PM CDT MON JUN 16 2008 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-172045- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 345 PM CDT MON JUN 16 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY...PRIMARILY WEST OF A MARYSVILLE TO EMPORIA LINE. THE SLIGHT CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS TUESDAY NIGHT. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. AT THIS TIME IT IS TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE IF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A house that had been spared from the destruction of the EF-4 tornado the week before was struck by lightning. A fire started in the attic and damaged the home.
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, June 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: 121636.