On the evening of Friday September 10, 2010 a cold front pushed through northeast Kansas, and kicked off a round of thunderstorms which brought strong damaging winds to areas near Topeka. Trained spotters around the area reported wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph.
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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.
On the evening of Friday September 10, 2010 a cold front pushed through northeast Kansas, and kicked off a round of thunderstorms which brought strong damaging winds to areas near Topeka. Trained spotters around the area reported wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph. These wind gusts caused tree limbs up to 10 inches in diameter to break. The Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS) site at Emporia measured a 68 mph wind gust, while the ASOS station at Forbes Field, south of Topeka, measured a gust of 55 mph. Aside from the widespread strong winds the storms produced large hail up to the size of golf balls in isolated locations.
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 Sep 10, 5:55 PM CST, 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 655 PM CDT FRI SEP 10 2010 ...MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE DISCUSSION... .UPDATE... THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN 2 DIFFERENT AREAS THIS EVENING. CONVECTION IS DEVELOPING ALONG BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM NEAR ALMA TO EMMETT TO SOLDIER WITH ANOTHER AREA OF CONVECTION IN THE WARM SECTOR IN FRANKLIN COUNTY. THE 00Z KTOP SOUNDING DEPICTS THE CAP IS CONTINUING TO ERRODE AND LIFT WITH A WEAK CAPPING INVERSION NEAR 740 MB. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MORE NUMEROUS THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS WITH THE CAP ERODING...AN INCREASE IN THE LOW LEVEL JET AND THE UPPER TROUGH KICKING INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. ALL MODES OF SEVERE WEATHER...DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES REMAIN POSSIBLE. CLOSELY MONITORING CELLS IN JACKSON AND POTTAWATOMIE COUNTIES. SUPERCELLS INTERACTING WITH THIS BOUNDARY WILL ENHANCE LOW LEVEL HELICITY AND COULD INCREASE TORNADIC POTENTIAL. ANGLE && .DISCUSSION... WARM FRONT HAS MOVED NORTH TO NEAR A BELLEVILLE TO TOPEKA TO NORTH OF OTTAWA. DEW POINTS HAVE INCREASED TO THE UPPER 70S NEAR THE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY. ELEVATED STORMS HAVE MOVED OFF INTO THE KC METRO AREA AT 2025Z. LATEST 20Z SOUNDING FROM TOPEKA SHOWS CAP STILL IN PLACE ATTM. AND 700 MB ANALYSIS SHOWS WARM TEMPS ARE IN PLACE AROUND PLUS 13C. FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDS FROM CENTRAL NEBRASKA TO HAYS TO SOUTHWEST KANSAS. UPPER TROUGH PROGRESSING EAST OUT OF THE ROCKIES WILL AID IN INCREASING FORCING FOR ASCENT ACROSS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY DURING THE EARLY EVENING. SHEAR NEAR 25 KTS PRESENT AHEAD OF THE FRONT WITH 40 TO 45 KTS OF SHEAR BEHIND IT. EXPECTING SCATTERED CELLS TO FORM INTO LINE SEGMENTS LATER THIS EVENING WITH HAIL AND STRONG WINDS THE MAIN HAZARDS. A FEW TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE NEAR THE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY WHERE LOW LEVEL WINDS WILL BE BACKED. HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES WILL BE PRESENT ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN KANSAS AND WITH VEERING 850 MB WINDS THE 850 MB MOISTURE TRANSPORT WILL FOCUS ON EASTERN KANSAS INTO WESTERN MISSOURI. HAVE ADDED A MENTION OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL TO EAST CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS TONIGHT. BEHIND THE FRONT MODELS SUGGEST AN AREA OF CLOUDS OVERNIGHT WITH CLEARING EARLY SATURDAY. SURFACE HIGH BUILDS IN THROUGH THE DAY ON SATURDAY AND HIGHS WILL GENERALLY TOP OUT AROUND 80. 53 WEDGE OF DRY AIR WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE COUNTY WARNING AREA (CWA) THROUGH SUNDAY WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGING...BUT MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO RETURN BY MONDAY AFTERNOON AS LLVL WINDS VEER TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST. WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE IN THE FORECAST BY MONDAY AFTERNOON...ALTHOUGH THE BETTER CHANCES WILL BE OVER THE NORTHCENTRAL COUNTIES WHERE THEY WILL BE IN CLOSER PROXIMITY TO A FRONT THAT TRIES TO EDGE INTO THE FAR NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE CWA. UNTIL THEN WILL CONTINUE TO EDGE HIGH TEMPS UP INTO THE MIDDLE 80S SUNDAY AND MONDAY WITH CLOUDS INCREASING ON MONDAY AFTERNOON. AS FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE WEST TO NORTHWEST AND PERSISTS THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK...A SERIES OF WEAK SHORTWAVE TROUGHS WILL MOVE OUT OF THE CENTRAL ROCKIES AND INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS WILL OCCUR WITHIN PERSISTENT WAA...SO AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF UNSETTLED WEATHER APPEARS IN STORE FOR THE AREA TUESDAY INTO THE END OF THE WEEK BEFORE THE FRONT FINALLY GETS PUSHES SOUTHWARD BY LATE FRIDAY...ALTHOUGH THE EC APPEARS TO BE THE FASTER AND MORE AGGRESSIVE MODEL WITH THE FROPA. EITHER WAY...WITH CLOUDS AND PRECIP CHANCES...WILL KEEP HIGHS IN CHECK IN THE UPPER 70S/LOW 80S THRU THU THEN THE 70S FOR FRIDAY. && .AVIATION... SURFACE BOUNDARY HAS MOVED THROUGH MHK AND WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK SOUTHEAST THROUGH TOP AND FOE THIS EVENING BRINGING A WIND SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST. ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS BOUNDARY...THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WINDS AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES. FRONT MOVES EAST OF THE TERMINALS LATE TONIGHT WITH DRIER AIR BRINGING AN END TO THE PRECIPITATION. A MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER MAY BRING A BRIEF PERIOD OF MVFR CEILINGS NEAR SUNRISE SATURDAY. ANGLE && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 611 PM CDT FRI SEP 10 2010 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-112315- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 611 PM CDT FRI SEP 10 2010 ...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 1 AM CDT SATURDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL KANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AFTER 7 PM MAINLY ALONG AND EAST OF A WASHINGTON TO SALINA LINE. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS AS THE PRIMARY HAZARDS...WITH A FEW TORNADOES ALSO POSSIBLE. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MERGE INTO LINE SEGMENTS OVER THE EVENING HOURS WITH A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH EASTERN KANSAS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE AGAIN POSSIBLE FOR MOST LOCATIONS MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE EAST OF A WASHINGTON TO SALINA LINE AFTER 7 PM.
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:27 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Some 3 inch diameter limbs about 8 to 9 feet long was reported down in a yard. Power to the house was knocked out.
An NWS Employee and numerous spotters across Shawnee County reported 60 to 70 mph wind gusts. At the KSNT television station two large tree branches, nearly 12 inches in diameter snapped. Elsewhere across Shawnee County, numerous 3 to 4 inch tree branches were snapped.
Emporia Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) measured two wind gusts of 68 mph.
A trained spotter near Lone Star reported a 60 mph wind gust.
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, September 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: 262122, 262119, 262120, 262123, 262121, 262124, 262125.