Thunderstorms with hail up to ping pong ball in size and winds up to 60 mph, were observed across central Missouri, during the evening hours of May 15, 2013. Minor damage was reported in Howard and Linn Counties.
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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 EAX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms with hail up to ping pong ball in size and winds up to 60 mph, were observed across central Missouri, during the evening hours of May 15, 2013. Minor damage was reported in Howard and Linn Counties. The combination of an upper level low moving into the area, and a frontal boundary drifting south across northern Missouri, caused the thunderstorms to develop.
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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 15, 3:12 PM CST, 2 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 412 PM CDT Wed May 15 2013 .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Thursday) Issued at 409 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2013 Afternoon satellite imagery shows a large cutoff trough moving through the Southern Plains. Warm air advection ahead of the trough continues to pump moisture north into Missouri, but convergence along the frontal boundary wallowing across northern Missouri is poor at best, and without any kind of triggering disturbance aloft, capping across the region has proved too robust for what instability is out there this afternoon. This evening the slightly closer proximity of the trough might help with assent up and across the boundary in northern Missouri, though with shear values rather low -- 0-6KM 10 to 20 knots -- any storms that do get going will be disorganized and sub-severe in nature. Any activity overnight might be able to linger into the daylight hours of Thursday as the frontal boundary slowly lifts into Iowa. However, as Thursday grows old, the slow moving trough across the Southern Plains will still be making its presents felt as diurnal heating keeps some instability across the region. Potential for storms looks best across southern and into eastern Missouri, and to our north in Iowa --near the frontal boundary--, but might leave our area stuck in between. Have continued to trim POPs from the afternoon hours of Thursday as a result, simply limiting chance POPs to the eastern and southern border areas of the forecast region for Thursday afternoon. .LONG TERM...(Thursday Night through Wednesday) Issued at 409 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2013 Next chance for storms arrives late in the weekend as a large trough digs into the western CONUS and begins to shift east into the Plains. Medium range models continue to advertise this trough bringing these storms by Sunday afternoon. The parent trough to all this activity wont be moving through the Plains States very fast as it develops into something akin to a Rex Block as advertised by some models. This could keep stormy weather in the vicinity of eastern Kansas and Missouri into Tuesday of next week, though the strongest storms --those with the best potential for severe weather-- look to be limited to Sunday afternoon and evening owing to the decent instability in the warm sector ahead of the cold front that will sweep through Monday. And, speaking of cold fronts, once again we might find our region with below normal temperatures in the wake of the front Tuesday and Wednesday, though lows in the 50s are all that are expected at this time. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday Afternoon) Issued at 1249 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2013 VFR conditions will prevail through the daylight and evening hours. However, continue to carry a low confidence forecast for VCTS at the terminals as some showers or thunderstorms might develop across far northern Missouri this evening near a stalled front. Early Thursday morning visibilities might drop in the MVFR category as moisture continues to pool south of the stalled front. Otherwise, expect generally southerly winds at less than 12 knots over the next 24 hours. && .EAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. MO...NONE. && SHORT TERM...Cutter LONG TERM...Cutter AVIATION...Cutter
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 101 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2013 KSZ025-057-060-102>105-MOZ001>008-011>017-020>025-028>033-037>040- 043>046-053-054-161130- ATCHISON KS-MIAMI-LINN KS-DONIPHAN-LEAVENWORTH-WYANDOTTE-JOHNSON KS- ATCHISON MO-NODAWAY-WORTH-GENTRY-HARRISON-MERCER-PUTNAM-SCHUYLER- HOLT-ANDREW-DE KALB-DAVIESS-GRUNDY-SULLIVAN-ADAIR-BUCHANAN-CLINTON- CALDWELL-LIVINGSTON-LINN MO-MACON-PLATTE-CLAY-RAY-CARROLL-CHARITON- RANDOLPH-JACKSON-LAFAYETTE-SALINE-HOWARD-CASS-JOHNSON MO-PETTIS- COOPER-BATES-HENRY- 101 PM CDT WED MAY 15 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST...NORTH CENTRAL AND WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI...AS WELL AS EXTREME EASTERN KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP LATE THIS EVENING AND INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY LINGER INTO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...BUT THE THREAT FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS LOW AT THIS TIME. A STRONGER STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA ON SUNDAY...PROVIDING AN INCREASED CHANCE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. CUTTER
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:30 UTC.
3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds gusted up to 60 mph, with damage observed to a carport, that was lifted into the air and and blown down. A large tree was uprooted and several smaller trees were also snapped off.
Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph. A pole barn was blown apart and several large trees were either snapped or blown down. Several trees had limbs up to 8 inches in diameter snapped off. The damage was observed east of Highway 139, and just off Highway D.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, May 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: 451067, 451068, 447990, 447991, 447992.