A line of showers and thunderstorms moved across northwest Kansas during the late evening hours. A brief tornado developed on the leading edge of the line along Interstate 70 near Edson.
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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 GLD wrote it up.
A line of showers and thunderstorms moved across northwest Kansas during the late evening hours. A brief tornado developed on the leading edge of the line along Interstate 70 near Edson.
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 Oct 11, 4:48 PM MST, 4 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 548 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 .SYNOPSIS... 205 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 ANALYSIS OF WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS POTENT LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER THE GREAT BASIN WITH SEVERAL EMBEDDED SHORTWAVE TROUGHS MOVING THROUGH THE MEAN FLOW. CLOSED WAS CURRENTLY MOVING FROM NEW MEXICO INTO COLORADO. HURRICANE NORBERT MAKING LANDFALL ON THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF BAJA CALIFORNIA WITH SOME OF ITS MOISTURE ALREADY BEING PULLED NORTHWARD INTO THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL ROCKIES. AT THE SURFACE...THE COLD FRONT WAS NOTED ALONG A LINE FROM SPD TO HYS. FOLTZ && .DISCUSSION... 205 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 COMPLEX STORM SYSTEM CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE TRI STATE REGION THIS AFTERNOON. PRIMARY CONCERNS FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE REVOLVE AROUND TEMPS AND PRECIP TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. WELL ADVERTISED DEEP LONGWAVE TROUGH HAS DEVELOPED OVER THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST. LEAD SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS CURRENTLY HAS SET OFF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. EXPECT DEVELOPMENT TO CONTINUE AND BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS STRONG ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE AND MOISTURE TRANSPORT REALLY KICK IN BY 00Z SUNDAY WITH MIXING RATIOS OF 9 TO 10 G/KG BEING ADVECTED INTO THE CWA. AXIS OF HEAVIEST PRECIP HAS SHIFTED SLIGHTLY WESTWARD FROM YESTERDAYS FORECAST. SATELLITE ANALYSIS AND THE 12Z DDC SOUNDING SHOW PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES AT OR ABOVE 200 PERCENT OF NORMAL. DO EXPECT WIDESPREAD QPF IN EXCESS OF AN INCH OVERNIGHT WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. GIVEN THE LONG DURATION OF THE EXPECTED PRECIPITATION...WILL NOT MENTION ANY HYDRO HIGHLIGHTS ATTM. AS A SURFACE LOW DEVELOPS OVER EASTERN COLORADO THIS EVENING...THE FRONT WILL BE PUSHED BACK NORTHWARD OVERNIGHT BRIEFLY OPENING US UP TO STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS. ANTICIPATE TEMPS WILL RISE THROUGH THE NIGHT OVER MUCH OF THE CWA BEFORE A STRONG COLD FRONT BEGINS TO MOVE IN FROM THE NORTHWEST BY AROUND 12Z. EXPECT MAX TEMPS IN THE NORTHWEST WILL HAPPEN AROUND 12Z WITH TEMPS STEADY OR FALLING THROUGH THE DAY. HAVE GONE WITH A NON-DIURNAL CURVE THROUGH MONDAY EVENING TO BETTER CAPTURE EXPECTED TEMPERATURE TRENDS. WILL SEE ONE MORE ROUND OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE CWA MONDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY AS THE MID/UPPER CLOSED LOW WEAKENS INTO AN OPEN WAVE AND SLIDES ACROSS THE CWA. OVER THE NORTHWESTERN PORTION OF THE CWA...STRONG SUBSIDENCE WILL KICK IN. WHEN COMBINED WITH LIGHT WINDS AND CLEARING SKIES...COULD HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR THE FIRST FREEZE OF THE YEAR OVER THE COLORADO ZONES. SOMETHING TO KEEP AN EYE ON OVER THE NEXT RUN OR TWO MODELS DIVERGE EVEN FURTHER THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY WITH THE EC SHOWING A TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY WHILE THE OPERATIONAL GFS BRINGS A RIDGE INTO THE REGION. REALITY WILL PROBABLY BE SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN SO HAVE OPTED TO GO WITH A SLOW WARMING TREND AND NIL POPS THROUGH THE END OF THE FORECAST. FOLTZ && .AVIATION... 535 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 FOR THE 00Z TAF CYCLE...FOR KGLD...CURRENT VLIFR CONDITIONS COULD BRIEFLY IMPROVE TO IFR/MVFR BETWEEN 00Z AND 03 AS A LINE OF HEAVIER RAIN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVE IN FROM THE WEST. AFTER 06Z...EXPECT IFR CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL THROUGH ABOUT 15Z. A BRIEF PERIOD OF MVFR CONDITIONS IS EXPECTED FROM 18Z TO 00Z. WINDS FROM THE ESE IN THE 15G25KT RANGE WILL INCREASE FROM THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST TO THE 23G31KT RANGE AFTER 06Z...EVENTUALLY CALMING AFTER 18Z FROM THE NORTHWEST. FOR KMCK...CURRENT LIFR CONDITIONS MAY BRIEFLY IMPROVE TO IFR BETWEEN 01Z AND 04Z AS HEAVIER RAIN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TAKE A LITTLE WHILE LONGER TO REACH HERE WITH ONLY SLIGHTLY DIMINISHED IMPACTS. STILL EXPECT IFR CONDITIONS TO SET IN HERE AS WELL AFTER 06Z WITH MVFR CONDITIONS RETURNING AFTER ABOUT 19Z BRIEFLY. CURRENT LIGHT WINDS FROM THE EAST ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE FROM THE SOUTHEAST IN THE 20G30KT RANGE AFTER ABOUT 06Z...ALSO EVENTUALLY CALMING FROM THE NORTHEAST...BUT AN HOUR OR TWO AFTER KGLD. BLM && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. NE...NONE. CO...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 518 AM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-121700- YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON- SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA- DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW- 518 AM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008 /618 AM CDT SAT OCT 11 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EAST CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AREAS OF FOG WITH DECREASED VISIBILITIES WILL BE NOTED ACROSS THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE TRI-STATE AREA THIS MORNING. RAIN SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY RAIN SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE TRI-STATE REGION ON SUNDAY...TAPERING OFF FROM WEST TO EAST BY MONDAY NIGHT. AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. LOCKHART
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:53 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief tornado was seen just north of Interstate 70 at exit 27 near Edson. There was no known damage.
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, October 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 131027.