In the early afternoon of July 28th, 2009, thunderstorms formed along a stationary front in Northeast Kansas. These storms were not classic supercell thunderstorms, but rather more ordinary single cell thunderstorms.
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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.
In the early afternoon of July 28th, 2009, thunderstorms formed along a stationary front in Northeast Kansas. These storms were not classic supercell thunderstorms, but rather more ordinary single cell thunderstorms. Funnel clouds and possibly landspout tornadoes formed as a result of these thunderstorms.
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 Jul 28, 10:53 AM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 1153 AM CDT TUE JUL 28 2009 .UPDATE... UPDATED FOR 18 UTC AVIATION. && .DISCUSSION... SEE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION. && .AVIATION... SFC BOUNDARY WHERE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN TRAINING ACROSS ALL MORNING HAS BEEN PUSHED SOUTH BY THE ADVANCING COLD FRONT TO THE NORTH. THERE ARE SOME LINGERING POST FRONTAL SHOWERS THAT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE TAF SITES LATER THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING BEFORE ALL PRECIP ENDS. CONDITIONS WILL SLOWLY IMPROVE INTO THE EVENING WITH LINGERING CLOUDY SKIES. THERE COULD BE SOME FOG LATE TONIGHT DEPENDING ON CLOUD COVER BUT WILL NOT INCLUDE IN THIS ISSUANCE AS UNCERTAINTY IS HIGH...WILL REEVALUATE FOR 00Z ISSUANCE. SALLY && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 359 AM CDT TUE JUL 28 2009/ DISCUSSION... WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND PROFILER NETWORK SHOWING ONE SHORTWAVE MOVING EAST/SOUTHEAST ACROSS NORTHEAST KS WITH RECENT CONVECTION DEVELOPING OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST CWA WHICH SHOULD EXIT THE AREA BEFORE SUNRISE. A MUCH STRONGER SHORTWAVE ALSO NOTED NEAR THE NE/WY BORDER ALSO MOVING EAST/SOUTHEAST WHICH WILL ARRIVE ACROSS THE CWA BY MIDDAY. CURRENT RADAR LOOPS ALSO SHOW TWO MCV AND ASSOCIATED CONVECTION THAT COULD POTENTIALLY IMPACT THE CWA. THE FIRST JUST NORTHWEST OF LXN IN NEB AND ANOTHER NEAR HLC BOTH MOVING EAST/SOUTHEAST. THESE TWO FEATURES MAY BRING PRECIP TO THE CWA...HOWEVER ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY WILL BE THE COMBINATION OF THE 850MB FRONT TO THE NORTH PUSHING SOUTH TODAY AND CATCHING UP TO SFC FRONT BISECTING THE CWA BY MIDDAY NEAR THE ARRIVAL TIME OF THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH ADVANCING INTO THE CWA. THE RESULTING INCREASE IN LLVL CONVERGENCE WITHIN INCREASING INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE AXIS NEAR BOUNDARY...MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-70 WILL ALSO PROVIDE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION. ALL IN ALL...WILL KEEP HIGH END CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE NORTH CENTRAL AND LIKELY ELSEWHERE. WITH MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES...DESTABILIZATION WILL LIKELY NOT BE AS STRONG AS YESTERDAY...SO NOT A LOT OF SEVER WEATHER EXPECTED...BUT CONVERGENCE AND SHEAR WILL BE A LITTLE STRONGER...SO CANNOT RULE OUT ISOLATED STRONGER WINDS AND SOME HAIL WITH STRONGER CELLS. ALTHOUGH HEAVY RAIN CERTAINLY A POSSIBILITY WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS...CONFIDENCE ON IT OCCURRING IN THE SAME ISOLATED AREAS AS YESTERDAY IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO WARRANT THE ISSUANCE OF A FLASH FLOOD WATCH. EXPECT THE CLOUDS AND PRECIP POTENTIAL MAY ALSO SLOW WARMING TODAY AND HAVE TWEAKED HIGH TEMPS DOWN SLIGHTLY. ALTHOUGH HAVE LEFT A CHANCE FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF THE TURNPIKE...THE EXITING SHORTWAVE TROUGH AND DRIER AIR WORKING IN BEHIND IT AND THE COLD FRONT SHOULD LIMIT PRECIP CHANCES SIGNIFICANTLY BEYOND THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. LEANED MORE WITH THE GFS ON THE DRIER AIR AND COOLER TEMPS OVERNIGHT. KEPT THE CWA DRY WEDNESDAY MORNING...BUT A GRADUAL INCREASE IN WARM/MOISTURE ADVECTION WARRANTS AT LEAST LOW POPS ACROSS THE CWA IN THE AFTERNOON. A BETTER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL THEN EXIST ACROSS THE CWA OVERNIGHT AS ANOTHER FRONT AND STRONGER SHORTWAVE TROUGH DROP SOUTHEASTWARD OUT OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS ACROSS THE CWA. HAVE THEREFORE INCREASE CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE CWA...THEN GRADUALLY ENDED NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST THROUGH MIDDAY THURSDAY. ALSO TRIMMED HIGHS AS WELL FOR THURSDAY. AFTER A BRIEF LULL IN PRECIP CHANCES THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...SLIGHT CHANCES FOR CONVECTION LOOK TO BE IN STORE FOR THE AREA AGAIN IN RETURN FLOW OF WARMER AIR AND MOISTURE ADVECTION INTO SATURDAY WHICH IS ALREADY HANDLED IN THE CURRENT GRIDS...THEREFORE NO CHANCES MADE TO FCST BEYOND THURSDAY. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 958 AM CDT TUE JUL 28 2009 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-291500- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 958 AM CDT TUE JUL 28 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER SEVERAL HOURS AND WILL PRODUCE FLOODING OF SOME ROADWAYS AND LOW LYING AREAS. THE MAIN THREAT TODAY WILL BE HEAVY RAIN BUT SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WIND IS ALSO POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY NIGHT...FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:22 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weather observer near Centralia and his wife snapped some pictures of this event. The observer reported he could see rotation all the way towards the ground, and it does appear that a brief landspout did touch down. No damage was reported to the office.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2009Warnings in Kansas, July 2009
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: 191314.