Severe hail was observed before midnight.
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.
Severe hail was observed before midnight.
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 May 31, 4:38 PM MST, 4 hours 43 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 638 PM CDT Sat May 31 2014 ...Updated Aviation Section... .SYNOPSIS... ISSUED AT 333 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 The 12z upper air analysis showed a shortwave trough over the Pacific Northwest into central California while a ridge extended from just east of Hudson Bay into the Ohio Valley. The remains of the old upper low from earlier in the week was spinning over the lower Mississippi Valley. Southwesterly flow aloft extended from southern California into the northern Plains. A weak shortwave trough was slowly moving east over the central High Plains. At the surface, weak moist southeasterly flow was noted across the central Plains as surface pressure slowly deepens in the lee of the Rockies. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Sunday) ISSUED AT 333 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 Isolated light rain showers and thunderstorms had developed along the Highway 183/283 corridor this afternoon most likely associated with the weak shortwave moving through the High Plains. The HiRes-ARW model seems to have a pretty good handle on these showers and they should gradually diminish and move out of the area through the late afternoon hours. This model also shows some convection moving off the front range this afternoon and into far western Kansas during the evening hours. Model soundings show the boundary layer becoming nearly saturated over south central Kansas late tonight. While some stratus and mist may possibly develop, the moisture looks fairly shallow. Winds increase through the inversion layer such that I don't think any fog will be an issue. There could be some low stratus developing before sunrise but this should burn off rapidly in the morning. Southerly winds will increase on Sunday as a strong pressure gradient sets up. Winds could approach advisory criteria during the day but it looks marginal enough to preclude a wind advisory. Thunderstorm chances will begin to increase Sunday afternoon over west central and southwest Kansas. A cool front will drop into the central High Plains across eastern Colorado and northwest Kansas during the afternoon. A dryline is expected to develop south along the Colorado/Kansas border. These features will be the focus for thunderstorm development by mid/late afternoon. SBCAPE values increase to around 2000-2500 J/KG. 0-6km bulk shear values increase to around 50 knots during the afternoon which should support supercell thunderstorms with large hail. Low level shear values and LCL heights show a pretty low tornado threat. .LONG TERM...(Sunday night through Saturday) ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 A relatively active pattern is expected for the medium range period with respect to convection in the central plains, and perhaps for the DDC forecast area as well. High probability for thunderstorms, including severe storms, exists Sunday evening as the nose of the incoming upper jet enhances lift and drives an MCS into a highly unstable airmass over central Kansas (strongly supported by the model consensus. The environment suggests relatively high based storms with boundary layer parallel flow making wind/hail the primary threats. As a result we've increased PoPs between 00 and 12 UTC Monday. A weak frontal boundary will push into the area on Monday, providing a period of boundary layer cold advection. Following the NAM temperatures, highs were trimmed slightly. Still highs are forecast to range from mid 80s through the highway K-96 and Interstate 70 areas to the upper 90s in the Red Hills region. Convection is much less obvious for our area on Tuesday and Wednesday. As easterly surface winds develop by Tuesday, more storms are likely to develop in eastern Colorado and spread into west central Kansas. Models are favoring a solution that would keep organized storm farther north across northwest Kansas and Nebraska, and less support of west central Kansas, limiting the eastern extent. Still, a few storms could be supercellular briefly in the far west Monday evening. The upper flow will induce cyclogenesis over the central High Plains on Wednesday, turning winds southerly across the area and drawing in far drier air eastward between highway 83 and 283. By Thursday, the ECMWF/GFS drive the next upper jet segment into the desert southwest toward the southern Plains effectively putting sw KS on the cool side of the middle troposphere baroclinic zone and prone to additional chances for thunderstorms even if not severe. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Sunday evening) ISSUED AT 636 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 VFR conditions will prevail through Sunday afternoon but local ceilings 010-020 and visibilities below 1 SM in scattered thunderstorms will develop after 21Z Sunday. Scattered cumulus clouds near 070 this evening will dissipate by sunset. Low level winds from the south at 10-15 kts will continue through the night. An area of thunderstorms in eastern Colorado will propagate into western Kansas between 01Z and 02Z and will approach GCK around 04Z. Ceilings near 070 and local visibilities near 5 SM can be expected with the thunderstorms. The thunderstorms will weaken after 04Z as they continue to move east. Isolated showers can be expected near DDC around 06Z. Low level south winds will increase to 20-25kts with gusts to near 35kts after 14Z Sunday as a surface low pressure system deepens in eastern Colorado. A dryline will surge into western Kansas after 18Z Sunday, and a line of thunderstorms will initiate along the dryline after 21Z from near Scott City to near Liberal. The thunderstorms will move east-southeast Sunday evening. && .FIRE WEATHER... ISSUED AT 333 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 Model soundings show fairly hot, dry and breezy conditions developing behind a dryline on Sunday afternoon. This could result in near Red Flag conditions over far southwest Kansas later Sunday afternoon. Elevated fire weather conditions could also develop on Tuesday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 66 94 63 90 / 20 40 80 10 GCK 65 94 61 87 / 20 60 70 10 EHA 65 96 61 91 / 20 30 30 10 LBL 65 97 62 93 / 20 30 50 10 HYS 66 91 63 85 / 20 60 80 10 P28 68 92 69 97 / 10 10 60 10 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...Gerard SHORT TERM...Gerard LONG TERM...Russell AVIATION...Ruthi FIRE WEATHER...Gerard
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 1048 AM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-011100- 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- 1048 AM CDT SAT MAY 31 2014 /948 AM MDT SAT MAY 31 2014/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS OVER WEST CENTRAL AND PARTS OF SOUTHWEST KANSAS. LIGHTNING WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARD FROM THESE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS CENTRAL AND MUCH OF SOUTHWEST KANSAS. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GOLF BALL TO BASEBALL SIZE HAIL. IN ADDITION, THE STORMS COULD ALSO BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THERE COULD ALSO BE AN ISOLATED TORNADO THREAT DURING THE EVENING HOURS OVER CENTRAL KANSAS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC GERARD
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:22 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail fell for about 40 minutes and increased in size with time. The largest and most damaging hail fell after 11 PM MDT. Damage was done to vehicles, bent 26 gauge roofing, and left dents in the ground.
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, May 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: 532733.