An upper level low with cold air aloft helped to produce low-topped showers and thunderstorms, some of which produced small tornadoes.
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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 DDC wrote it up.
An upper level low with cold air aloft helped to produce low-topped showers and thunderstorms, some of which produced small tornadoes.
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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 20, 1:47 PM CST, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 247 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009 .DISCUSSION... DAYS 1-2... FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE ON CONVECTIVE CHANCES FOR THIS EVENING. WIDESPREAD RAIN SHIELD HAS MOVED NORTH OF KDDC AND AM STARTING TO SEE SOME BREAKS IN THE CLOUD DECK TO OUR SOUTH PER VIS SATELLITE. THE LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS THE WARM/STATIONARY FRONT STRETCHING FROM ROUGHLY WICHITA TO SOUTH OF DODGE THROUGH THE WEST OK PANHANDLE INTO THE MAIN LOW OVER SOUTHERN NM. AM STARTING TO SEE A WAVE FORMING ALONG THE FRONT ON THE WESTERN OK PANHANDLE WITH PRESSURE FALLS OF AROUND 1MB/HR OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF HOURS. NAM DEPICTS SOME CAPE, PRIMARILY OVER OUR EASTERN COUNTIES HOWEVER AM THINKING IT MAY BE UNDERESTIMATING CAPES DUE TO ALL THE RAIN AND CLOUD COVER FROM THIS AM. LOCAL ANALYSIS HAS CAPES EXCEEDING 2000 J/KG JUST SOUTH OF THE KS BORDER WITH 1500 J/KG ALREADY CREEPING INTO OUR SRN COUNTIES. MOISTURE CONVERGENCE IS ALSO BEGINNING TO INCREASE SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT. ALL THAT SAID, TEMPS ALOFT ARE RATHER WARM IN THIS QUASI-TROPICAL AIRMASS. H5 TEMPS THIS AM WERE -5C AND PER MODEL DATA MAY BE A LITTLE WARMER NOW. PER WATER VAPOR THE DRY SLOT ALOFT IS STILL A WAYS OFF AND WE WONT SEE THE COOL POOL ALOFT ARRIVE UNTIL OVERNIGHT. COULD EASILY SEE SOME STORMS FIRE IN THIS SOUPY REGIME BUT AM HARD PRESSED TO IMAGINE MUCH IN THE WAY OF LARGE HAIL. LOW LEVEL SHEAR HOWEVER, SHOULD BE FAIRLY DECENT, ESP INVOF THE WARM FRONT. LCLS AND LFCS ARE QUITE LOW AND IF CONVECTION GETS GOING, SMALL, BRIEF TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE. WILL HAVE TO CLOSELY WATCH THE CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ALL THE ACTIVITY WILL CLEAR OUT QUICKLY AFTER 06Z TONIGHT. THEREAFTER, THE MODELS ADVERTISE NOTHING BUT A BUILDING RIDGE THROUGH THE REST OF THE SHORT TERM. TEMPS WILL CLIMB QUICKLY, REACHING 100 OR BETTER OVER MOST OF SW KANSAS BY MONDAY. GIVEN THE STRENGTH AND POSITION OF THE RIDGE BY MONDAY WE COULD EASILY BE LOOKING AT MUCH HOTTER TEMPS WERE IT NOT FOR THE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF GROUND MOISTURE WE HAVE TO EVAPORATE OFF FIRST. -WRIGHT DAYS 3-7... THE MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES FOR THIS EXTENDED PERIOD ARE TEMPERATURES AND CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH BUILDING AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE INTO THURSDAY WITH WARM TEMPERATURES. A NORTHERN BRANCH SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS THEN FORECAST TO MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS AND GREAT LAKES ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY BRINGING A COLD FRONT BY LATE FRIDAY AND INTO SATURDAY WITH A BRIEF RELIEF FROM THE HEAT. HIGH TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE AROUND 100 INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON AHEAD OF THE FRONT THEN INTO THE LOW TO MID 90S FOR THE WEEKEND. OVERNIGHT LOWS SHOULD BE MILD IN THE 60S WEST TO 70S EAST. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS, IF THE ECMWF VERIFIES, WITH THE COLD FRONT BUT OTHER THAT SHOULD BE DRY. && .AVIATION... LOOK FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH MOSTLY VFR CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING. A FEW AREAS MAY SEE MVRF CONDITIONS IN THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS ALONG WITH SOME SMALL HAIL. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD END BY 3Z AT KGCK TO KDDC, THEN BY 6Z AT KHYS AS AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE MOVES OUT OF THE AREA. THEN LOOK FOR VFR CONDITIONS INTO THE NIGHT AND SUNDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 66 95 70 101 / 40 0 0 10 GCK 66 95 68 101 / 40 0 0 10 EHA 63 94 69 102 / 40 0 0 10 LBL 65 95 67 101 / 40 0 0 10 HYS 67 95 71 101 / 60 10 10 10 P28 72 96 72 101 / 40 0 0 10 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && FN34/06/06
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 1018 AM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-211530- TREGO-ELLIS-SCOTT-LANE-NESS-RUSH-HAMILTON-KEARNY-FINNEY-HODGEMAN- PAWNEE-STAFFORD-STANTON-GRANT-HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA- PRATT-MORTON-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK-COMANCHE-BARBER- 1018 AM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009 /918 AM MDT SAT JUN 20 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER WESTERN KANSAS TODAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM MOVES FROM THE DESERT SOUTHWEST INTO THE PLAINS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF INCH WILL BE COMMON TODAY WITH SOME LOCATIONS RECEIVING UP TO AN INCH. RAINFALL COULD COME DOWN IN HEAVY BURSTS AT TIMES, ESPECIALLY NEAR ANY THUNDERSTORMS. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE COMMON THIS AFTERNOON AS THE UPPER LEVEL STORM MOVES OVERHEAD. WHILE WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED, SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY MAY EXIST EAST OF A HAYS TO MEADE LINE TO PRODUCE A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON, PRIMARILY EAST OF A HAYS TO MEAD LINE. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC WRIGHT
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:44 UTC.
3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
This was a small and brief tornado that moved across pasture land where nothing could be damaged.
Several outbuildings were destroyed by this tornado. It was video taped by folks that were about 2 miles away and they could hardly believe what they were seeing. In fact, several times they doubted it was a tornado but it was clearly a tornado that traveled 5.1 miles north-northeast and heavily damaged two well built and new outbuildings.
This was a tornado that made intermittent contact. The base of the shower was extremely low and it was underneath a cold core upper low.
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, June 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: 186087, 186090, 186083.