This early Tuesday evening featured the most noteworthy hail event of 2011 within this six-county area of North Central Kansas, as a pair of outflow-dominant supercells tracked southeast through portions of western Phillips, Rooks and Osborne Counties, producing hail up to softball size. The leading edge of the storms first entered southwest Phillips County near Logan shortly after 630 PM CDT, eventually exiting the area southward into central Kansas by around 830 PM. During these two hours, large hail between the size of ping pong balls and baseballs pounded several communities including Logan, Stockton, Plainville, Zurich, Damar and Palco. In Zurich, some stones were reported to be softball size. Damage reports included multiple broken windows on homes and vehicles, along with battered siding. Although large hail was the main story, damaging winds occurred in some areas as well, with reports including a few downed trees in Stockton and snapped power poles south of Alton. In addition, locally heavy rain of around 2 inches fell in parts of the area from a combination of these early evening storms and other storms that arrived later in the night, with unofficial reports of over 4 inches south of Plainville near the Ellis County line.
This fairly concentrated bout of severe weather in Phillips, Rooks and Osborne Counties was only a small segment of a much larger northwest to southeast corridor of hail and wind that stretched hundreds of miles from southeast Wyoming to south central Kansas. Over the course of several hours lasting well into the early morning hours on the 10th, multiple supercells and multicell clusters tracked southeast along this corridor. Fortunately for this portion of North Central Kansas, the early evening storms were the only ones to impart a significant impact, as several other severe storms narrowly passed south and west of the area during the late evening and overnight hours. Between midnight and 3 AM CDT, another complex of strong storms raked across much of Phillips, Rooks and Osborne Counties, but these were reportedly not severe.
The initial early evening hail-producing supercells had been taking aim on North Central Kansas for several hours, first becoming severe in west central Nebraska during the early afternoon as they tracked nearly due southeast. The synoptic and mesoscale environment was quite supportive of this type of northwest flow severe event, with early evening parameters featuring unseasonably strong deep layer vertical wind shear of 50-60 knots, along with mixed-layer CAPE between 1000-2000 J/kg. The strong west-northwest flow aloft was directed along the far southern periphery of a deep low pressure system crossing Ontario. At the surface, North Central Kansas was positioned near a west-northwest to east-southeast oriented quasi-stationary front, with low level easterly flow helping to enhance shear parameters.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:35:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: PLAINVILLE
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 250.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail up to the size of golf balls nearly covered the ground.

Thunderstorm Wind in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 19:00:00 to 09-AUG-11 19:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALTON
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 50.00K
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts estimated at 70 MPH resulted in a few snapped power poles.

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 17:30:00 to 09-AUG-11 17:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 17:36:00 to 09-AUG-11 17:36:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:31:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:31:00 (CST-6)
Location: ZURICH
Magnitude: 2.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 17:40:00 to 09-AUG-11 17:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 20.00K
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:10:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:19:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 2.00 
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Newspaper

Large hail resulted in tree damage, dented aluminum siding, and a couple broken windshields.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:15:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:21:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAMAR
Magnitude: 2.50 
Property damage: 250.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail up to the size of tennis balls nearly covered the ground.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:21:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:21:00 (CST-6)
Location: PALCO
Magnitude: 2.50 
Property damage: 250.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Large hail resulted in broken windshields.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-AUG-11 18:31:00 to 09-AUG-11 18:31:00 (CST-6)
Location: ZURICH
Magnitude: 4.25 
Property damage: 250.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Large hail resulted in homes with broken windows.