On July 7th, very warm and dry conditions brought forth an environment favorable for short-lived, pulse type thunderstorms, with down burst potential. A couple storms did produce severe down bursts.
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 TOP wrote it up.
On July 7th, very warm and dry conditions brought forth an environment favorable for short-lived, pulse type thunderstorms, with down burst potential. A couple storms did produce severe down bursts. One of these down bursts occurred near Abilene, where 60 mph winds were reported with a few small tree limbs broken. The strongest of the two reported down bursts was in Emporia, where a small area was impacted by a rather significant down burst. Several large trees, outbuildings, and street signs were destroyed by estimated 80 mph winds.
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 7, 5:08 PM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 608 PM CDT SAT JUL 7 2012 ...UPDATE TO AVIATION... .DISCUSSION... FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDED FROM NEAR FALLS CITY TO SOUTH OF CONCORDIA THIS AFTERNOON. A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH LAY FROM OSKALOOSA THROUGH TOPEKA AND HERINGTON. SATELLITE SHOWS CUMULUS FIELD ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA SAVE THE NORTHWEST CORNER. DEW POINTS HAVE INCREASED BEHIND THE FRONT INTO THE LOWER 70S WHILE AREAS TO THE SOUTH HAVE MIXED OUT INTO THE 50S TO LOWER 60S. ISOLATED CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND INTO CENTRAL KANSAS AS WELL AS SOUTHWEST MISSOURI. LATEST MESO ANALYSIS SHOWS BEST CONVERGENCE FROM DODGE CITY NORTHEAST TO NEAR TOPEKA. ANOTHER AREA OF CONVERGENCE WAS NOTED FROM SOUTHWEST IOWA TO WASHINGTON COUNTY. SURFACE BASED CAPE RUNNING IN THE 1500 J/KG TO NEAR 3000 J/KG ACROSS THE AREA. 0-6KM SHEAR REMAINS WEAK. FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING EXPECT TO SEE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP ALONG AND BEHIND THE BOUNDARIES. RUC SOUNDINGS SHOW INVERTED V SO POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SOME ISOLATED WIND GUSTS WITH THE STEEP LAPSE RATES. THE FRONT WILL SLOWLY MOVE SOUTHEAST TONIGHT AND STALL OUT ACROSS EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS BY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BOUNDARY MAY TOUCH OFF SOME MORE CONVECTION ON SUNDAY. ALSO COULD SEE SOME REMNANTS OF HIGH PLAINS CONVECTION MOVE INTO NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. WILL ALLOW THE HEAT ADVISORY TO EXPIRE THIS EVENING ACROSS THE AREA AS FORECAST HIGHS ON SUNDAY WILL BE IN THE UPPER 80S TO MID 90S. WILL NEED TO WATCH AREAS SOUTHEAST OF I-35 FOR POOLING OF DEW POINTS IN THE 70S WHICH IF IT OCCURS COULD PUSH THE HEAT INDEX TO AROUND 100 DEGREES. 53 POST FRONTAL AXIS OF HIGHER MOISTURE AT AND BELOW 850 MB WILL SAG SOUTHWARD THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT AND BE MAINLY SITUATED JUST TO THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTY WARNING AREA OVER SOUTHEAST KS BY 12Z MONDAY. HOWEVER...ISOLATED/SCATTERED CONVECTION STILL POSSIBLE THROUGH THE EVENING SUNDAY MOST AREAS AND WITH MORE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT (MAINLY SOUTHERN COUNTIES) WITH THE APPROACH OF WEAK WAVE AS UPPER FLOW TRIES TO TRANSITION TO NORTHWEST FLOW. DRIER AIR WILL THEN CONTINUE TO ADVECT INTO THE CWA THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY. ALL IN ALL...WILL CONTINUE WITH SLIGHT CHANCE OR LOWER END CHANCE POPS ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH EMPHASIS ON THE EVENING AND SOUTH OF I-70...THEN CONTINUE WITH A DRY FCST ON MONDAY WITH DEEPER MOISTURE CONTINUING TO SHIFT AWAY FROM THE CWA WITH THE MAIN PUSH OF THE FRONT INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. AFTER LOWS IN THE UPPER 60S AND LOWER 70S SUNDAY NIGHT...SHOULD SEE MORE COMFORTABLE HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S NOT ONLY ON MONDAY BUT ALSO INTO TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AS WELL. WILL CONTINUE WITH A DRY FORECAST ON THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WORK WEEK AND INTO SATURDAY AS THE AREA WILL REMAIN JUST EAST OF THE AMPLIFYING UPPER RIDGE AXIS. AS EASTERLY LLVL FLOW BECOMES MORE SOUTHEAST BY THURSDAY AND HEIGHT RISES INCREASE...SHOULD SEE TEMPS START TO INCREASE WITH HIGHS THURSDAY INTO SATURDAY BACK INTO MAINLY THE LOWER 90S...ALTHOUGH HEAT INDICES AT THIS POINT EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW THE CENTURY MARK. 63 && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. ISOLATED/SCATTERED TSRA WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE AT TERMINALS THROUGH AT LEAST 06Z. WILL WATCH FOR ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO THE WEST LATE TONIGHT. SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SCT MVFR CEILINGS TO DEVELOP BY 08Z...BUT PROBABILITY TOO LOW FOR MENTION IN FORECAST. BLAIR && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR KSZ010>012-021>024- 026-034>040-054>056-058-059. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 751 PM CDT SAT JUL 7 2012 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-090100- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 751 PM CDT SAT JUL 7 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDNIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE 70 CORRIDOR. LOCALLY STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. BLAIR
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
702 PM CDT SAT JUL 7 2012
KSZ059-080030-
ANDERSON-
702 PM CDT SAT JUL 7 2012
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CENTRAL ANDERSON COUNTY...
THROUGH 730 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE SOUTHWEST AT 10
MPH ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ANDERSON COUNTY. DOPPLER RADAR
INDICATED...AND THE PUBLIC REPORTED THIS STORM WAS PRODUCING STRONG
WINDS OF 40 TO 50 MPH.
&&
LAT...LON 3811 9527 3806 9539 3811 9545 3820 9545
3827 9538 3829 9526 3820 9519
TIME...MOT...LOC 0001Z 026DEG 10KT 3818 9531
$$ BARJENBRUCHThe Topeka radar (KTWX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:36 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous reports of downed trees on 6th Street between Constitution and Sylvan Streeets. One such tree was over two feet in diameter and was split in half. Otherwise, several smaller trees were destroyed, as were outbuildings and street signs.
A member of the public reported that a few small tree limbs around 2 inches in diameter were broken.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, July 2012
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: 395237, 395242, 395235.