This Sunday evening featured several reports of strong to severe wind of 50-70 MPH, as a fairly compact mesoscale convective system (MCS) tracked southeast across nearly the entire six-county area. The most notable measured gusts at area airports included 66 MPH at Smith Center and 56 MPH near Stockton.
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 GID wrote it up.
This Sunday evening featured several reports of strong to severe wind of 50-70 MPH, as a fairly compact mesoscale convective system (MCS) tracked southeast across nearly the entire six-county area. The most notable measured gusts at area airports included 66 MPH at Smith Center and 56 MPH near Stockton. Other storm reports featured estimated 70 MPH winds at Gaylord, estimated 70 MPH winds and quarter size hail near Downs, and at least one large tree downed in Osborne and Cawker City. Although rainfall amounts across most of the area averaged 1-2 inches at most, a narrow corridor extending from east-central Smith County across southwestern Jewell and northern Mitchell Counties tallied at least 2-3 inches, and even an unofficial gauge reading of 4.90 inches four miles southwest of Jewell. This resulted in localized minor flooding along the Brown Creek in southern Jewell County and near Solomon Rapids in northern Mitchell County.
This line of storms already had a history of producing strong to severe winds as it dropped southward out of Nebraska into Phillips and Smith counties between 730-830 pm CDT. Between 830-1030 pm CDT, the line became increasingly-organized into a bowing-MCS as it charged southeast. By 11 pm CDT, the most intense storms had pushed south into central Kansas, leaving behind lingering, non-severe convection over parts of North Central Kansas through around 130 am CDT. On the synoptic scale aloft, this event occurred in seasonable quasi-zonal flow containing embedded, low-amplitude shortwave troughs, with northern Kansas displaced south of the strongest upper level flow aligned from the Dakotas to the Great Lakes. At the surface, the primary early-evening feature was a warm front bisecting the area along a line from southwest Nebraska to southeast Kansas, which put North Central Kansas in a low-level east-southeast flow regime. Early evening mesoscale severe weather parameters over the local area featured mixed layer CAPE of 1500-2000 J/kg in the presence of 0-6 kilometer deep layer wind shear of 30-40 knots.
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 16, 4:59 AM CST, 2 hours 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 559 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 .SHORT TERM...(TODAY AND TONIGHT) ISSUED AT 335 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 THE PRIMARY SHORT TERM FORECAST CONCERN WILL CENTER AROUND THE CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. THERE ARE TWO AREAS TO WATCH FOR POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORM INITIATION TODAY. THE FIRST INITIATION ZONE AS INDICATED BY THE 00Z ECMWF...AND THE 00Z/06Z NAM WOULD BE SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND THE SANDHILLS REGION OF CHERRY COUNTY NEBRASKA. THERE IS A WEAK VORT MAX IN THIS AREA AND A LOCALIZED LOW LEVEL JET MAX NOSING IN DURING THE MORNING HOURS. IF THE FORECAST MODELS ARE RIGHT THIS CONVECTION SHOULD ALREADY BE GOING BY 10 AM TO NOON AND THEN THE ECMWF AND NAM ESSENTIALLY JUST PROPAGATE THIS CONVECTION SOUTHEAST INTO THE MOISTURE AXIS AND ACROSS MUCH OF OUR FORECAST AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. IF THIS CONVECTION FAILS TO MATERIALIZE ACROSS SOUTH DAKOTA/NEBRASKA SANDHILLS THIS MORNING THEN YOU CAN LIKELY THROW OUT THE OVERNIGHT RUNS OF THE ECMWF AND NAM...AND ALSO DECREASE THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTHEASTERN TWO THIRDS OF OUR FORECAST AREA. THE SECOND INITIATION ZONE IS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH A HIGH PLAINS VORT MAX AND WILL BE FOCUSED FROM SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA INTO THE BORDER REGION OF EASTERN COLORADO/WESTERN KANSAS. THIS SECOND ZONE WILL LIKELY FIRE UP LATER...LIKELY AROUND MID AFTERNOON AND THEN SLIDE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS AS IT TAPS INTO AN INCREASING UPSLOPE SOUTHEAST/EASTERLY LOW LEVEL JET. CONVECTION THAT ORIGINATES IN THIS INITIATION ZONE WILL LIKELY ONLY THREATEN THE SOUTHWESTERN ONE THIRD OF OUR FORECAST AREA...PRIMARILY OUR KANSAS COUNTIES. THERE WILL BE A HIGH DEGREE OF INSTABILITY BY EARLY AFTERNOON ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA WITH MLCAPE VALUES OF 2000 - 3000 J/KG AND VERY LITTLE IF ANY CONVECTIVE INHIBITION. THE KEY WILL BE IN WHETHER THE FORCING IS SUFFICIENT TO GET THE STORMS GOING. THE VORT MAX IS FAIRLY WEAK...BUT THE FORECAST MODELS SEEM TO THINK IT WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR INITIATING STORMS. DEEP LAYER WIND SHEAR IS MARGINAL AT 30 TO 40 KTS...BUT CERTAINLY SUFFICIENT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GIVEN THE HIGH INSTABILITY. THE LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR IS WEAK PRIMARILY THE SPEED SHEAR DUE TO THE LIGHT/WEAK LOW LEVEL WIND FIELD. HOWEVER...THE DIRECTIONAL SHEAR IS DECENT WITH EAST WINDS AT THE SFC AND WEST WINDS ALOFT...JUST THE LOW LEVEL WINDS ARE LIGHT. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL TO THE SIZE OF GOLFBALLS AND WIND GUSTS AS HIGH AS 60 TO 70 MPH WITH THE STRONGER STORMS. IN ADDITION...THE MOIST ENVIRONMENT WILL ALSO SUPPORT LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN. THE HIGH INSTABILITY ALONG WITH THE STRONGER WINDS ALOFT AND DECENT DIRECTIONAL SHEAR MAY BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE AN ISOLATED WEAK TORNADO...BUT A LINEAR CONVECTIVE SYSTEM WITH A STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE THREAT WILL BE MORE LIKELY. STORMS WILL LIKELY CONGEAL INTO AN MCS DURING THE EVENING HOURS AND TRACK SOUTHEAST WITH THE HIGHEST CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION DURING THE EVENING SHIFTING SOUTH INTO KANSAS. .LONG TERM...(MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 335 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS WILL BE CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE PERIOD AND TEMPERATURES. AN UNSETTLED UPPER LEVEL PATTERN CONTINUES ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD. SEVERAL UPPER LEVEL WAVES MOVE THROUGH THE AREA AND BRING INTERMITTENT CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO THE REGION. MODELS HAVE SIMILAR MAIN FEATURES...BUT SLIGHT TIMING AND LOCATION DIFFERENCES KEEP SOME UNCERTAINTY IN THE DETAILS OF THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT THERE IS NORTHWEST FLOW ACROSS THE AREA. AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE MOVES INTO THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP ON THE HIGH PLAINS AND MOVE INTO THE AREA DURING THE EVENING. THERE COULD BE A BRIEF LULL IN THE ACTIVITY TUESDAY MORNING BUT THE NEXT WAVE MOVES INTO THE AREA TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND BRINGS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS, DESPITE A WEAK UPPER LEVEL RIDGE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA...TEMPERATURES REMAIN BELOW NORMAL. AN UPPER LEVEL LOW DEVELOPS IN THE NORTHWEST CONUS WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. SEVERAL UPPER LEVEL WAVES MOVE THROUGH THE AREA AND THERE ARE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES ACROSS THE AREA. MODELS HAVE SOME DIFFERENCES IN THE TIMING AND LOCATION OF THE WAVES AS THEY MOVE THROUGH. IT LIKELY WILL NOT RAIN ALL OF THE TIME...BUT THERE WILL BE SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AROUND. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE AROUND NORMAL...A LITTLE COOLER ON WEDNESDAY AND WARMER ON THURSDAY. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW CONTINUES TO MOVE TO THE EAST/NORTHEAST AND INTO THE PLAINS FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. A SURFACE LOW DEVELOPING ON THE HIGH PLAINS STARTS TO MOVE TO THE EAST AND INTO THE FORECAST AREA FRIDAY NIGHT. MOST OF THE UPPER LEVEL ENERGY IS IN THE NORTHERN PLAINS DURING THIS TIME...BUT WITH THE SURFACE FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE AREA THERE COULD BE SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT DURING THE NIGHT IN THE NORTH. TEMPERATURES AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT ON FRIDAY WILL BE IN THE UPPER 80S TO MID 90S BUT WITH THE FRONT NOT GETTING THROUGH THE AREA ON SATURDAY THE TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEARLY THE SAME. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY MORNING) ISSUED AT 543 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD STAY OUT OF THE KGRI AREA THROUGH MOST OF THE MORNING...BUT ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE BACK INTO THE KGRI VICINITY LATER THIS AFTERNOON. SEVERAL MODELS DEVELOP THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NEBRASKA SANDHILLS THIS MORNING AND THEN TRACK THESE THUNDERSTORMS SOUTHEAST INTO THE KGRI AREA THIS AFTERNOON. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALREADY BEGINNING TO FORM AND THEY ARE THE ONES TO WATCH AS THEY TRACK SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE DAY. WILL ALSO HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR SOME LOW CLOUDS EARLY THIS MORNING WITH SEVERAL SITES AROUND KGRI FALLING INTO LIFR CEILINGS OF LESS THAN 500 FT. THESE LOW CEILINGS MAY ALSO IMPACT KGRI FOR A FEW HOURS THIS MORNING AND THUS HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE TAF. THE WIND WILL GENERALLY HAVE AN EASTERLY COMPONENT BUT MAY VARY FROM NORTHEAST TO SOUTHEAST BASED ON WEAK BOUNDARIES IN THE AREA. THE WIND COULD ALSO BECOME MUCH MORE ERRATIC WITHIN AND NEAR THUNDERSTORMS LATER TODAY. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. KS...NONE. && SHORT TERM...WESELY LONG TERM...JCB AVIATION...WESELY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 514 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 171200- PHILLIPS-SMITH-JEWELL-ROOKS-OSBORNE-MITCHELL-VALLEY-GREELEY-NANCE- SHERMAN-HOWARD-MERRICK-POLK-DAWSON-BUFFALO-HALL-HAMILTON-YORK- GOSPER-PHELPS-KEARNEY-ADAMS-CLAY-FILLMORE-FURNAS-HARLAN-FRANKLIN- WEBSTER-NUCKOLLS-THAYER- 514 AM CDT SUN JUN 16 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS OF 60 TO 70 MPH...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL BEING THE PRIMARY THREATS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE MONDAY NIGHT...AS WELL AS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...PRIMARILY WEST OF HIGHWAY 281. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH HAIL TO AROUND THE SIZE OF QUARTERS AND THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 60 MPH BEING THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. PERIODIC CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS ALSO EXIST IN THE FORECAST FOR VARIOUS PORTIONS OF THE OUTLOOK AREA WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE OUTLOOK AREA. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS (ALL LOWERCASE) WESELY
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:51 UTC.
10 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A 24 hour rain total of 4.90 inches fell 4 miles southwest of Jewell. Most of the rain occurred between 10 pm and Midnight CDT on June 16th. This report is from an unofficial rain gauge.
Law enforcement reported an estimated wind gust of 60 mph.
A trained spotter estimated that a 65 mph wind gust occurred.
A measured wind gust of 59 mph was recorded at Smith Center.
A measured wind gust of 64 mph occurred.
An estimated wind gust of 70 mph occurred.
A measured wind gust of 66 mph occurred.
Quarter sized hail was observed in conjunction with the estimated 70 mph wind gust.
Quarter sized hail was observed in conjunction with the estimated 70 mph wind gust.
A large tree was down, along with numerous branches.
Numerous tree limbs were down across town.
A large tree was blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, June 2013
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: 462928, 460619, 460620, 460624, 460626, 460628, 460629, 460631, 464328, 460615, 460616, 460617.