A weakening thunderstorm in Lyon County produced a heat burst and attendant strong winds that caused damage south of the city of Emporia. The measured temperature at the Emporia Airport (KEMP) increased by 20 degrees between 4:44am and 5:11am from 71 to 91 degrees fahrenheit.
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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.
A weakening thunderstorm in Lyon County produced a heat burst and attendant strong winds that caused damage south of the city of Emporia. The measured temperature at the Emporia Airport (KEMP) increased by 20 degrees between 4:44am and 5:11am from 71 to 91 degrees fahrenheit.
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 May 25, 2:59 AM CST, 2 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 359 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 2008 .DISCUSSION... A WARM AND SOMEWHAT MUGGY NIGHT ACROSS THE AREA AS TEMPERATURES AND DEWPOINTS BOTH HOVERING IN THE UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S. OVERNIGHT CONVECTION HAS REMAINED SOUTH OF THE CWA. CERTAINLY AN INTERESTING COUPLE OF DAYS SHAPING UP IN THE NEAR TERM FORECAST. UPPER TROF STILL HOLDING POSITION OVER THE WEST COAST...WITH LARGE GYRE HAVING BEEN EJECTED NORTHEASTWARD OUT OF THE TROF INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THIS FEATURE CONTINUES TO LIFT EAST/NORTHEAST THROUGH THE DAY TODAY...BEFORE BEING SHOVED BACK SOUTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS ON MONDAY. FOR TODAY...EFFECTIVE WARM FRONT DEVELOPS THROUGH THE DAY AS NORTHERLY WINDS OUT WEST AND SOUTHERLY WINDS IN THE EAST RESULT IN CONVERGENCE IN OUR WESTERN AND NORTHERN CWA BY LATE AFTERNOON. INITIAL CONCERN WOULD BE SEVERE POTENTIAL...WITH GOOD INSTABILITY AND SHEAR BY LATE AFTERNOON ACROSS NE KS BRINGING HAIL AND WIND THE MAIN THREAT FROM STORMS THAT DEVELOP. AS NORTHERN LOW BEGINS TO DROP SOUTHWARD...FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE WESTERLY AND EFFECTIVELY STALLS OUT THE FRONT ALONG THE KS NEBRASKA BORDER IN THE EVENING HOURS. MOISTURE ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY IS ABUNDANT...WITH DEWPOINTS NEAR 70 AND PW VALUES AROUND 1.5 INCHES. LLJ DEVELOPS WITH 40 TO 50 KTS IMPINGING AND CONVERGING ALONG THIS BOUNDARY BY 06Z MONDAY. LLJ THEN SLOWLY VEERS THROUGH 12Z. AXIS OF BEST 850MB THETA E ROTATES FROM CTRL KS INTO EASTERN KS OVERNIGHT. ALL IS EXCELLENT SETUP FOR STORMS TO DEVELOP OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN CTRL KS AND PROPAGATE EASTWARD ALONG THE BOUNDARY ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. WHILE POSITION OF THIS BOUNDARY MAY ADJUST NORTH OR SOUTH OF CURRENT FORECAST...WITH SUCH GENEROUS PARAMETERS IN PLACE THINK A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS PRUDENT FOR COUNTIES NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70. RAINFALL RATES OVER AN INCH AN HOUR ARE POSSIBLE. COULD TRANSITION TO A FLOODING EVENT DEPENDING ON HOW FIRST ROUND DEVELOPS. FRONT PROGGED TO GET REINFORCED AS UPPER TROF SLIDES SOUTHWARD ON MONDAY...AND MODELS BRING A SHORTWAVE ACROSS THE BOUNDARY OVERNIGHT MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. THIS WOULD SET UP SIMILAR CONDITIONS TO SUNDAY NIGHT WITH FLOODING BEING ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT CONCERN. WILL HAVE TO SEE HOW FIRST ROUND DEVELOPS BUT BOTH SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY NIGHT SHOULD BE MONITORED CLOSELY FOR FLOODING POTENTIAL. TUES/WED BRING IN COOLER HIGH PRESSURE BEHIND UPPER WAVE DROPPING SOUTHWARD. SHOULD START TO SEE SOME RECOVERY IN TEMPS BY LATE THURSDAY WITH CONTINUED WARMING TREND FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. NO CHANGES BEYOND WEDNESDAY. 67 && .AVIATION... INITIAL CONCERNS FOR TOP AND FOE ARE THE PROGRESSION OF MVFR/IFR STRATUS BUILDING SOUTHWEST FROM NORTHERN MO. DIFFICULT TO TRACK STRATUS DECK WITH PERSISTENT CONVECTION OVER SOUTHEAST KS KEEPING SOLID ANVIL SHIELD OVER ALL TAF SITES. MHK ON WESTERN PERIPHERY OF ANVIL...AND HAVE SEEN VSBYS DROP TO IFR CONDITIONS WITH APPARENTLY JUST ENOUGH BREAKS IN CIRRUS TO ALLOW RADIATIVE FOG TO DEVELOP. CONVECTIVE INTENSITY/TRACK ALSO UNCERTAIN FROM SE KS...WOULD EXPECT CONVECTION TO WEAKEN AS IT PUSHES NORTHEAST THIS MORNING...SO NO MENTION OF TS IN TAFS INITIALLY...BUT WILL WATCH RADAR TRENDS IN CASE THIS COMPLEX MANAGES TO HOLD TOGETHER. THIS AFTERNOON CONVECTIVE CHANCES ARE MAIN CONCERN...NO CONFIDENCE IN TS DVLP OVR TAF SITES THIS AFTERNOON...SO NO MENTION WITH 12Z TAF CYCLE. TS CHANCES INCREASE GREATLY AFT 06Z...AND WILL CARRY MENTION OF TS AT THIS TIME WITH HIGHER CONFIDENCE. MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS LIKELY WITH ANY CONVECTION WITH DEEP GULF MOISTURE IN PLACE. CAVANAUGH && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FROM 7 PM SUNDAY TO 10 AM MONDAY FOR COUNTIES MAINLY NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70. KSZ008>KSZ012-KSZ020>KSZ024-KSZ026-KSZ034. && 67/67/CAVANAUGH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 611 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 2008 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-261115- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 611 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS ALL OF NORTHEAST...EAST CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS MORNING...WITH CHANCES INCREASING ACROSS THE NORTHERN BORDER THIS AFTERNOON. THERE IS ENOUGH INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR TO MAKE STRONG WINDS AND HAIL THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS. TONIGHT...FLOODING WILL BECOME THE PRIMARY CONCERN AS A SURFACE BOUNDARY MOVES INTO NORTHERN KANSAS AND BECOMES A POTENTIAL FOCUS FOR CONVECTION OVERNIGHT. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70 FROM 7PM TO 10AM MONDAY. RAINFALL RATES OF OVER AN INCH PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES FOR TIMING AND LOCATION OF OVERNIGHT STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY HEAVY RAINS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN MONDAY NIGHT AS ANOTHER FRONT MOVES INTO THE AREA...AND ADDITIONAL FLOOD WATCHES MAY BECOME NECESSARY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. SPOTTERS ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO REPORT RAINFALL RATES OF OVER AN INCH PER HOUR TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 524 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 2008 KSZ054-058-251130- LYON-COFFEY- INCLUDING THE CITY OF...EMPORIA 524 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 2008 ...HEAT BURST IN LYON COUNTY... THE TEMPERATURE AT THE EMPORIA AIRPORT JUMPED FROM 71 DEGREES AT 4:44AM...UP TO 91 DEGREES AT 5:11 AM. THIS IS LIKELY THE RESULT OF AIR DESCENDING FROM RAIN SHOWERS IN THE AREA AND WARMING VERY QUICKLY AS IT COMES IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. WIND GUSTS NEAR 41 MPH HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED AT THE AIRPORT. CONDITIONS MAY EXTEND EASTWARD INTO COFFEY COUNTY THROUGH 6 AM.
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:25 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A few trees were blown down along 160 Road just south of the city of Emporia. Power was reported to be out across portions of the county.
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, May 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: 101090.