On the afternoon of the 17th a complex of thunderstorms developed over northern Nebraska and started moving south. Over time a strong cold pool developed and drove the storms into north central Kansas by the 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 TOP wrote it up.
On the afternoon of the 17th a complex of thunderstorms developed over northern Nebraska and started moving south. Over time a strong cold pool developed and drove the storms into north central Kansas by the evening. These storms caused severe wind damage to certain locations before the nocturnal inversion began preventing the winds from reaching the surface.
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 Aug 17, 7:26 PM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 826 PM CDT Sun Aug 17 2014 .UPDATE... Issued at 812 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 Monitoring two MCS complexes tracking southeast over southern Nebraska and north central Kansas. The Nebraska cluster maintains a strong outflow boundary around 50 MPH gusting out ahead of the main line showing a history of 60 to 70 mph winds. Thunderstorm cluster in Kansas has recently reported wind gusts near 60 mph. Environment ahead of the system is characterized currently by 3500 J/KG of MLCAPE and effective shear increasing to near 30 KTS as a southwesterly LLJ ramps up over north central Kansas. Current thinking is similar to latest runs of the HRRR depicting the two clusters converging as they track south and east over the CWA. Have therefore increased precip chances over north central Kansas. Instability gradient weakens towards central and eastern portions of northeast Kansas and would expect the cluster to weaken in severity between midnight and 7 AM. Between now and midnight, slight risk of severe weather was expanded across north central areas where wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph and small hail are possible. && .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Monday) Issued at 343 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 Water vapor imagery showing next shortwave trough and associated frontal boundary moving thru northwest NE. Thunderstorms have developed over north central NE and should propagate southeastward within moisture axis situated across central NE into far northern KS that will lift slowly northward through the night. Expect NE convection to weaken later this evening with the loss of heating and weaker shear further south towards the KS border. Will still however keep the high chance pops near the NE border and decrease southward in weaker warm air advection. The most likely period will be near the state line towards sunrise in the far northeast corner. Lows tonight will be in the middle to upper 60s. More mixing and increasing clouds should limit fog potential tonight. Front to the north will move southeast and bisect the cwa northeast to southwest by mid to late afternoon. Axis of higher cape will set up along and ahead of the front. Although the shear along the front will not be as strong as further north and a capping inversion will be in place...expect afternoon heating and weak convergence along the front to allow at least some isolated thunderstorms to develop. If they do...a deeply mixed atmosphere with temps well into the middle and upper 90s would favor potential strong wind gusts with any convection that forms. Will keep highest chance pops along and ahead of the front...or primarily just north and west of the Turnpike. .LONG TERM...(Monday Night through Sunday) Issued at 343 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 Expect scattered convection Monday evening as the frontal along the frontal boundary as it slowly moves southeast. NAM showing MUCAPE around 5000 J/KG with around 35 to 40kts of bulk shear into the early evening hours. Could see a few strong to severe storms with strong wind gusts the main hazard. The front should sag south of the CWA Tuesday morning before moving northward as a warm front Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night. Isentropic lift over the warm front should generate elevated thunderstorms mainly across the northern CWA. Areas near Highway 36 will have a small chance of morning thunderstorms on Wednesday. Wednesday night through Saturday will see ridge building over the Southern and Central Plains. Periodic waves will move through the flow and models differ on timing and resultant precipitation placement. Will continue with low end chances of precipitation, mainly nocturnal. GFS and ECMWF diverge with the timing of an upper level trough with the GFS keeping the upper trough over the western states while the ECMWF is much further east over the central U.S.. Will go dry on Sunday given the large differences for now. Temperatures will be above normal through much of the period. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFs through 00Z Monday Evening) Issued at 638 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 Monitoring the evolution of TSRA over western Kansas and central Nebraska. Latest guidance is beginning to trend toward convection weakening west of KMHK by 12Z. Confidence was not high enough to mention thunder at KMHK at this time. Second concern is fog potential before cloud cover arrives. MVFR to IFR fog is possible at KTOP after 09Z while increased winds and cloud cover at KMHK/KFOE may hinder lower visibilities. Fog is expected to dissipate around 14Z as mixing increases. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && UPDATE...Bowen SHORT TERM...63 LONG TERM...53 AVIATION...Bowen
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 836 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-190145- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 836 PM CDT SUN AUG 17 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE FOR LOCATIONS ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MINNEAPOLIS TO CLAY CENTER AND SENECA. TIMING FOR STORMS TO IMPACT REPUBLIC COUNTY IS AFTER 10 PM. MAIN HAZARDS ARE GUSTY WINDS UP TO 60 MPH AND SMALL HAIL. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY WEAKEN AS THEY TRACK SOUTH AND EAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE THROUGH MID WEEK...SHIFTING NORTHWARD THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE BEST CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR MONDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY NIGHT WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY STRONG WIND GUSTS. A PERIOD OF RELATIVELY HOT WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED WEDNESDAY INTO THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:58 UTC.
16 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees down across the roads in Courtland.
Wind gusts estimated.
Power lines and trees down which are blocking emergency services from entering the town.
Power lines down.
Tree limbs reported down in the area.
Winds gusts estimated.
Tree limbs up to 3 inches in diameter down.
Power lines down in the area.
Wind gusts measured.
Tree limbs and power lines down in the town.
Wind gusts estimated.
Wind gusts measured.
Reports of power lines down and medium sized trees uprooted.
Wind gusts estimated.
Trees down in town.
Wind gusts measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 2014
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: 531526, 531527, 531528, 531529, 531530, 531532, 531533, 531534, 531535, 531536, 531537, 531544, 531539, 531540, 531541, 531542, 531543.