Hail, Pawnee
- When
- August 12, 3:08 PM CST
- Where
- Pawnee County, 0.69 mi N of Burdett Rucker Arpt
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- Public
- Coordinates
- 38.190, -99.530
A cold front and supported by an upper level jet streak helped to produce severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon and early evening.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
A cold front and supported by an upper level jet streak helped to produce severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon and early evening.
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 Aug 12, 1:37 PM CST, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 237 PM CDT FRI AUG 12 2011 .DISCUSSION... DAYS 1-2... THE MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, THEN CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS INTO SUNDAY. A 70KT UPPER LEVEL JET ON THE BOTTOM OF AN UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS WILL CONTINUE TO PROGRESS SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS WESTERN KANSAS TONIGHT. THIS WILL BRING A COLD FRONT ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING. EASTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW WITH DEWPOINTS AROUND 70 WILL BE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT WITH CAPES FORECAST AROUND 3000 J/KG. WITH PLENTY OF LAYER SHEAR AND INSTABILITY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY. SOME ROTATING SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL NEAR OR OVER GOLFBALL SIZE ARE POSSIBLE ALONG WITH AN ISOLATED TORNADO. INITIALLY TEMPERATURE DEWPOINT SPREADS WILL BE HIGH, HOWEVER BY LATER IN THE EVENING THEY WILL FALL. THE STORMS SHOULD END BY AROUND 9 PM FROM MEDICINE LODGE TO LIBERAL. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 60S. ON SATURDAY AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE HIGH PLAINS WITH COOLER SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE INTO KANSAS. BY LATE AFTERNOON WITH UPSLOPE FLOW INTO FAR SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS AND EASTERN COLORADO A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY FORM BUT WITH LOW SHEAR SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. HIGHS ON SATURDAY WITH MOSTLY SUNNY TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES LOOK TO BE IN THE LOW TO MID 90S. FOR SATURDAY NIGHT A FEW MORE THUNDERSTORMS MAY MOVE OFF THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF EASTERN COLORADO IN WESTERN KANSAS FROM GARDEN CITY TO LIBERAL. OVERNIGHT LOWS SHOULD BE IN THE LOW TO MID 60S. FOR SUNDAY AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE OVER WESTERN KANSAS AND THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE MISSOURI VALLEY ALLOWING MOIST UPSLOPE FLOW TO RETURN INTO WESTERN KANSAS. WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS BY LATE AFTERNOON BUT AGAIN THE SHEAR PROFILE LOOKS WEAK WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NOT EXPECTED. HIGHS WILL BE AROUND 90 WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. DAYS 3-7... JUST A FEW TWEAKS TO THE EXTENDED GRIDS BUT THE SAME STORY HOLDS TRUE WITH SOME PERIODS OF THUNDERSTORMS, A DRYING PERIOD, THEN SLIGHTLY COOLER WEATHER AND POTENTIALLY MORE THUNDERSTORMS. MY PERIOD BEGINS 00Z MONDAY. STILL KEPT 20 TO 30 PERCENT POPS FOR SUNDAY NIGHT. A NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL STILL BE FAVORABLE FOR MCS DEVELOPMENT AS SUGGESTED BY THE ECMWF AND GFS. HIGHS MONDAY WILL BE IN THE 90S PRIMARILY WITH SLIGHT POPS CARRIED ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS IN ASSOCIATION WITH A WEAKENING FRONTAL BOUNDARY. BY TUESDAY THE 500 HPA RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD MORE OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND WILL DOMINATE OUR WEATHER. THIS RESULTS IN GHOSTS POPS AND WARMER TEMPERATURES. HIGHS AROUND 100 DEG F LOOK REASONABLE FOR MUCH OF THE CWFA. BY WEDNESDAY EVENING INTO THURSDAY THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE RETROGRADES WEST ACROSS THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. THIS WILL TURN OUR UPPER LEVEL FLOW MORE NORTHWESTERLY AND THEREFORE WILL RESULT IN SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES AND THE THREAT FOR MCS ACTIVITY AS MARKED BY SLIGHT POPS IN THE GRIDS. THIS LESS HOT AND MORE SEASONABLE TEMPERATURE PATTERN IS FORECAST TO STICK AROUND FOR THE REST OF THE BUSINESS WEEK. -SUGDEN && .AVIATION... MAINLY VFR CIGS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD. HAVE CB AND VCTS FOR KDDC AFTER FOLLOWING RECENT HRRR GUIDANCE WHICH SUGGESTS LESS OF A THREAT OF CONVECTION FOR KGCK AND KHYS. THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS AND LARGE HAIL IS ALSO A THREAT TODAY WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS. CONVECTION SHOULD ERUPT IN THE 20-23Z TIMEFRAME FROM ELKHART TO DODGE CITY TO LARNED AND THEN PUSH EAST THROUGH 9 PM CDT. WINDS WILL SWITCH TO THE NORTHEAST AS THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY/COLD POOL SURGES ACROSS THE REGION. -SUGDEN && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 65 91 65 91 / 30 10 10 20 GCK 64 91 64 91 / 10 10 20 20 EHA 65 92 66 91 / 30 20 20 20 LBL 65 93 66 92 / 30 10 20 20 HYS 64 88 63 88 / 20 10 10 10 P28 69 93 67 92 / 50 10 10 10 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && FN06/36/36
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 259 PM CDT FRI AUG 12 2011 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-132000- 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- 259 PM CDT FRI AUG 12 2011 /159 PM MDT FRI AUG 12 2011/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM THIS EVENING. NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP ALONG A COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SEVERE WEATHER IS LIKELY WITH DAMAGING WINDS OVER 60 MPH AND HAIL UP TO GOLFBALL SIZE. A FEW SUPERCELLS WITH AN ISOLATED TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. THE BEST CHANCES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE EAST OF A LINE FROM LACROSSE TO NEAR GARDEN CITY AND LIBERAL STARTING BETWEEN 3 AND 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON. THEY WILL PROGRESS TO THE SOUTHEAST THROUGH MEADE, GREENSBURG, COLDWATER, PRATT, AND END BY AROUND 9 PM AT MEDICINE LODGE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP OVER FAR SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS ON SATURDAY LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE AGAIN POSSIBLE ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MORE THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP ALSO BY THURSDAY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED MAINLY EAST OF A LINE FROM LACROSSE TO NEAR GARDEN CITY AND LIBERAL BY 3 TO 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC 06
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:07 UTC.
20 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
A railroad crossing arm was blown down by the high wind.
Winds were estimated to be 65 MPH.
Large tree limbs were blown onto the highway.
Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
Quarter sized hail also fell with the high wind.
Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
Winds were estimated to be at least 70 MPH. Trees were being shredded by the high wind.
Three inch diameter tree branches were broken by the high wind.
Winds were estimated to be 65 MPH.
Wood shingles were blown off the roof from the strong thunderstorm winds.
Numerous tree damage was reported in Pratt with 3 to 6 inch diameter tree limbs blown down.
Power poles were snapped off on 20th street southwest of Pratt.
A 35 foot long trailer was blown onto a pickup.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 2011
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: 345603, 345604, 345613, 345605, 345614, 345615, 345612, 345631, 345617, 345608, 345606, 345607, 345623, 345609, 345618, 345641, 345610, 345619, 345621, 345624, 345625, 345626, 345627, 345628, 345637, 345629, 345634, 345630, 345635, 345633.