This Thursday afternoon featured the only severe thunderstorms of the month across portions of North Central Kansas, with reports of hail from penny to half dollar size across several counties. These thunderstorms served as the opening volley to a very active few days of weather, as a classic, powerful, nearly vertically stacked low pressure system organized across western Kansas during the day. By early afternoon, a 998 millibar surface low was centered across south central Kansas, with a warm front extending from west to east across North Central Kansas. In the vicinity of this strengthening warm front, the mesoscale environment featured 500-1000 J/kg MLCAPE, and around 40-50 knots of deep layer vertical wind shear. In response to modest low level heating and destabilization within the northernmost reaches of the mid-level dry slot along with intense forcing from the mid-level low and considerable upper-level jet stream divergence, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms erupted by mid-afternoon, affecting much of the area for around 3 hours before sliding off to the north and east. Hail was the primary severe weather threat with these storms, with the largest reported hail of half dollar size occurring in Jewell and Smith Counties. Hail reportedly covered the ground in a few locations, including near Esbon and Athol. On a positive note, these storms brought parts of North Central Kansas some much-needed rainfall between 1-2 inches, with one of the highest reported amounts of 1.89 inches at Lebanon in Smith County.

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 15:27:00 to 14-APR-11 15:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: SMITH CENTER
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 15:30:00 to 14-APR-11 15:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: TIPTON
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 13:50:00 to 14-APR-11 13:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: ESBON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 13:35:00 to 14-APR-11 13:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: BURR OAK
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 13:30:00 to 14-APR-11 13:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: BURR OAK
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 15:30:00 to 14-APR-11 15:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: SMITH CENTER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 16:35:00 to 14-APR-11 16:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 16:25:00 to 14-APR-11 16:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATHOL
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 16:05:00 to 14-APR-11 16:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: ESBON
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 16:04:00 to 14-APR-11 16:04:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSBORNE
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 16:00:00 to 14-APR-11 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PORTIS
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-11 15:50:00 to 14-APR-11 15:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: MANKATO ARPT
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public