A cold front and associated upper level disturbance ignited strong to severe thunderstorms across central and southeast Kansas from the late afternoon into the mid-evening hours on the 31st. Winds of 60 to 80 mph were reported, along with quarter size hail.
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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 ICT wrote it up.
A cold front and associated upper level disturbance ignited strong to severe thunderstorms across central and southeast Kansas from the late afternoon into the mid-evening hours on the 31st. Winds of 60 to 80 mph were reported, along with quarter size hail. The strong winds produced some damage in the Luray area in Russell county. Additionally, localized minor street flooding was reported in Coffeyville due to heavy rainfall over a relatively short period of time.
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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 2:25 PM CST, 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 325 PM CDT TUE AUG 31 2010 .DISCUSSION... FORECAST HIGHLIGHT INCLUDE PRECIPITATION CHANCES THROUGH THURSDAY...A COOL DOWN FRIDAY-SATURDAY...WITH WARMING TEMPERATURES AGAIN BY LATE WEEKEND INTO NEXT WEEK. PRECIPITATION: VERY MOIST/UNSTABLE AIRMASS CURRENTLY ENTRENCHED ACROSS THE REGION. A COLD FRONT IS SWEEPING SOUTHEAST...CURRENTLY SITUATED FROM SOUTHEAST NE SOUTHWESTWARD INTO NORTHWEST KS. THINKING SCATTERED STORMS WILL FIRE ALONG THIS FRONT LATE THIS AFTERNOON GIVEN THE STRONG CONVERGENCE...AFFECTING MAINLY CENTRAL THROUGH EAST-CENTRAL KS THROUGH THIS EVENING. GIVEN STRONG INSTABILITY AND MARGINAL 20-30KTS OF SHEAR...THINKING A FEW SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. ELSEWHERE...ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KS...IN ZONE OF STRONG HEATING/INSTABILITY AHEAD OF A WEAK DISTURBANCE OVER THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS. THINKING THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE MORE PULSE-LIKE...WITH ONLY ISOLATED OCCURRENCES OF SEVERE WEATHER INTO THE EVENING. CONFIDENCE DECREASES AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES DUE TO INCREASING CAP AND MINIMAL MID/UPPER FORCING...BUT THINKING STRENGTHENING LOW-LEVEL JET IN CONCERT WITH PROPAGATING STORM-SCALE COLD POOLS AND APPROACHING WEAK DISTURBANCE FROM THE SOUTHWEST WILL BE ENOUGH TO FESTER ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. ACTIVITY ACTUALLY COULD BE FAIRLY WIDESPREAD LATER TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING OVER SOUTHERN/SOUTHEAST KS AS PROGGED BY THE GFS...BUT GIVEN WEAK FORCING DID NOT HIT POPS THAT HARD. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL HANG UP LATE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...AND SHOULD EVENTUALLY LIFT NORTH/WASH OUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT. PRECIPITATION FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY WILL BE PROBLEMATIC...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR STORM-GENERATED OUTFLOWS...THE POSITION OF THE FRONT OVER CENTRAL KS...ALONG WITH THE WEAK DISTURBANCE EXPECTED TO BE OVER EASTERN KS. BEST CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION DURING THE MORNING SHOULD BE OVER EASTERN KS...WITH CHANCES SPREADING TO MAINLY CENTRAL KS BY AFTERNOON/EVENING ALONG THE FRONT. FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT...INCREASING 850-700MB WARM/MOIST ADVECTION AHEAD OF POWERFUL SHORTWAVE ENERGY DIVING ACROSS THE NORTHERN CONUS MAY RESULT IN RENEWED DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE AREA. STRONG COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO SURGE SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THURSDAY. THINKING THE BEST THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THIS FRONT WILL BE GENERALLY SOUTHEAST OF THE TURNPIKE THURSDAY AFTERNOON...WITH THE FRONT RAPIDLY EXITING SOUTHEAST BY EVENING. GFS/NAM/ECMWF ARE ALL IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT SURROUNDING THE TIMING OF THIS FRONT. DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED IN WAKE OF THE FRONT. THE NEXT CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION MAY ARRIVE FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK...AS GFS/ECMWF PROGRESSES A COLD FRONT SOUTH ACROSS THE PLAINS. HOWEVER...OPTED TO LEAVE FORECAST DRY FOR NOW GIVEN POOR RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY AND MODEL DISAGREEMENT. TEMPERATURES: WILL CONTINUED HEAD ADVISORY OVER SOUTHEAST KS THROUGH 7 PM THIS EVENING. HOT/HUMID TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THE NEXT FEW DAYS...BUT WILL COME TO AN END BY FRIDAY BEHIND THURSDAY'S FRONTAL PASSAGE. AFTERNOON READINGS FRIDAY MAY ONLY REACH THE LOW 80S...WITH DEWPOINTS ONLY IN THE 40S AND 50S. ANOTHER WARM UP INTO THE 90S IS EXPECTED FOR SUNDAY-MONDAY...AND POSSIBLY WELL INTO NEXT WEEK...DEPENDING ON FRONTAL TIMING. ADK && .AVIATION...18Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU FOCUS IS ON SE PROGRESS OF SLOW-MOVING COLD FRONT APPROACHING CNTRL KS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. STILL EXPECT THE FRONT TO MOVE NO FURTHER SE THAN PERHAPS A KSLN-KGBD LINE LATE TONIGHT & WITH BEST LWR-DECK CONVERGENCE TARGETING AREAS ALONG & NW OF THE BOUNDARY BEST CHANCES FOR TSRA TO AFFECT KRSL & KSLN. FOR NOW ASSIGNED "VCTS" TO BOTH TAF SITES WITH HIGH-BASED CBS (7,000-8,000FT) IN THE AREA. KRSL SHOULD BE ONLY TERMINAL TO EXPERIENCE PROFOUND WINDSHIFT FROM SLY TO NNELY THIS EVENING. EPS && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... WICHITA-KICT 73 92 72 88 / 40 40 30 30 HUTCHINSON 71 92 70 86 / 40 30 30 20 NEWTON 72 91 70 87 / 40 40 30 30 ELDORADO 73 91 70 89 / 40 50 30 40 WINFIELD-KWLD 74 93 72 92 / 40 40 30 40 RUSSELL 67 87 66 83 / 50 40 40 20 GREAT BEND 68 89 68 84 / 40 30 30 20 SALINA 69 89 70 85 / 50 40 40 20 MCPHERSON 70 91 70 85 / 50 40 30 20 COFFEYVILLE 74 88 73 92 / 40 50 50 50 CHANUTE 74 87 70 91 / 40 50 50 50 IOLA 74 87 70 91 / 40 50 50 50 PARSONS-KPPF 74 87 73 92 / 40 50 50 50 && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR KSZ070>072-094>096- 098>100. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 255 PM CDT TUE AUG 31 2010 KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-012000- RUSSELL-LINCOLN-BARTON-ELLSWORTH-SALINE-RICE-MCPHERSON-MARION-CHASE- RENO-HARVEY-BUTLER-GREENWOOD-WOODSON-ALLEN-KINGMAN-SEDGWICK-HARPER- SUMNER-COWLEY-ELK-WILSON-NEOSHO-CHAUTAUQUA-MONTGOMERY-LABETTE- 255 PM CDT TUE AUG 31 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT HEAT INDICES OF 105 TO 109 ARE LIKELY OVER ALL OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS UNTIL EARLY THIS EVENING...WHILE HEAT INDICES OF 100 TO 104 ARE LIKELY IN MOST OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS. THUNDERSTORMS CHANCES WILL INCREASE AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES...SOME OF WHICH MAY PRODUCE 50 TO 55 MPH WINDS AND NICKEL-SIZED HAIL. THE BEST CHANCES FOR SUCH ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR OVER CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER MOST AREAS FROM WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AND OVER PART OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS THURSDAY EVENING. ON WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF 1 INCH HAIL AND 60 TO 70 MPH WINDS ARE POSSIBLE OVER AREAS ALONG...AND NORTHWEST...OF A LINE FROM AROUND HUTCHINSON TO MARION...WITH STRONG THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE. ON THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...THE BEST CHANCES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR PRIMARILY ALONG THE KANSAS TURNPIKE CORRIDOR...WITH STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FOR MOST OTHER AREAS. HEAT INDICES WILL BE NEAR 100 ALONG THE OKLAHOMA BORDER WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. && FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION...SEE OUR WEBPAGE AT (LOWERCASE) HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/WICHITA/HWO/HWO.PHP ES
The Wichita radar (KICT), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:04 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 lightning, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Cowley County Emergency Management estimated 60 mph winds in Arkansas City. A handful of trees and tree limbs were downed by the winds. The Arkansas City Traveler contributed to this report.
Fire from a lightning strike destroyed a barn during the evening hours on the 31st. The contents of the barn were also destroyed, including saddles, a four-wheeler and a quantity of hay. The Winfield Daily Courier contributed to this report.
A trained spotter estimated 60 to 70 mph winds about 3 miles southwest of Cassoday.
The hail occurred with 40 mph winds and torrential rain.
Nickel to quarter size hail occurred, along with one inch of rain in 30 minutes.
A few 3 to 4-inch diameter tree limbs were downed.
Estimated 70 to 80 mph winds produced widespread damage in and around the Luray area. A church limestone steeple was badly damaged, a fertilizer conveyer at the COOP was blown over, an awning was blown off a business, several trees and tree limbs of various sizes were downed, and some power lines were downed, one of which fell on a house.
Law enforcement estimated 60 mph winds in and around the Lucas area.
A trained spotter estimated 60 mph winds with heavy rain.
Strong thunderstorm winds tore off an auto dealer's tin roof during the evening hours on the 31st.
Law enforcement reported several streets in Coffeyville were flooded due to 1 to 2 inches of rain in a short period of time. Flooding was likely relatively minor, so no damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 2010
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: 247961, 260388, 247962, 247963, 247964, 247965, 247966, 247967, 247968, 260387, 247977.