Two distinct rounds of severe thunderstorms raked across the six-county area on this Saturday, resulting in several reports of large hail and damaging winds along with one EF1 tornado.  However, considering that the entire area spent the day under its only High Risk convective outlook of the spring from the Storm Prediction Center, the situation could have been worse. No injuries were reported in this portion of North Central Kansas, and all significant, long-track tornadoes in the region remained just to the south across central and southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. In the local area, the lone EF1 tornado touched down shortly after 2 PM CDT in western Mitchell County and tracked along a four-mile path just south of Tipton, destroying a few outbuilding and garages along the way. This tornado was rain-wrapped, and associated with a large high-precipitation supercell that moved northeast out of central Kansas.
The first round of multiple severe storms lifted across the area from southwest to northeast mainly between 1130 AM and 330 PM CDT, with Mitchell County bearing the brunt of the activity. In addition to the tornado near Tipton, other storm reports included downed power lines near Glen Elder and estimated 60 MPH winds in Beloit. After these storms exited the area to the north and east, a lull of several hours ensued before the second round of scattered severe storms raced northward across the area between 730 PM and 10 PM CDT. Although these storms were not tornadic, severe weather reports included ping pong ball size hail in far southern Osborne County and quarter size hail in or near Phillipsburg, Kensington and Burr Oak, among other places. By 1030 PM CDT, storms had all but exited the local area for the night, although severe weather continued for nearby areas to the north, south and east. Although significant flooding was not an issue from this event, much of the area measured between 1-3 inches of rain, with one of the highest totals of 3.56 inches in Beloit.
This severe weather outbreak was driven by a classic synoptic setup, as a powerful mid-upper level trough approached the Central Plains from the Four Corners region, featuring a 300 millibar jet streak in excess of 110 knots. At the surface, low pressure deepened over the course of the day, registering around 992 millibars by early evening over northwest Kansas. A well-defined warm front extended east from this low across south central Nebraska, as a sharpening dryline took shape along a line from southwest Nebraska to far western Oklahoma. With a strengthening and veering wind profile with height, shear parameters were quite supportive of significant severe weather. Around the time of the tornado near Tipton, mesoscale severe weather parameters featured around 2000 J/Kg mixed layer CAPE, 50-60 knots of deep layer vertical wind shear and 30-40 knots of surface-to-1 kilometer low level vertical shear. In addition, surface-to-1 kilometer storm relative helicity increased into at least the 300-500 m2/s2 range during the afternoon and evening hours, promoting a volatile environment for potentially strong, long-track tornadoes. Fortunately for this portion of North Central Kansas, most severe storms were less isolated than nearby tornadic supercells to the south, allowing storm scale interference to likely mitigate what could have been a more significant tornado event.
On a regional and even national level, this was one of the most anticipated and well-advertised Central Plains tornado outbreaks ever. Although the majority of North Central Kansas was not in a High Risk outlook from the Storm Prediction Center until the early morning hours of the 14th, other parts of Kansas and Oklahoma were placed under a High Risk early on the 13th, marking the first time SPC ever issued a High Risk forecast so far in advance.

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:48:00 to 14-APR-12 19:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATHOL
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Amateur Radio

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:49:00 to 14-APR-12 19:49:00 (CST-6)
Location: HUNTER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:55:00 to 14-APR-12 19:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: BURR OAK
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:57:00 to 14-APR-12 19:57:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:08:00 to 14-APR-12 19:08:00 (CST-6)
Location: COVERT
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:10:00 to 14-APR-12 19:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: COVERT
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 20:00:00 to 14-APR-12 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATHOL
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: County Official

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 20:17:00 to 14-APR-12 20:17:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 13:30:00 to 14-APR-12 13:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: GLEN ELDER
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 2.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Amateur Radio

Power lines were knocked down by wind gusts estimated at 60 mph.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 13:45:00 to 14-APR-12 13:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.

Tornado in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 13:03:00 to 14-APR-12 13:12:00 (CST-6)
Location: TIPTON
Tornado F-scale: EF1
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This tornado touched down approximately 3 miles south of Tipton, crossed Highway 181 before lifting approximately 1 mile southeast of Tipton.  Along its path, trees up to 4 ft in diameter were damaged or destroyed, outbuildings and garages were damaged or destroyed, homes suffered roof and siding damage and power poles were tipped or blown down completely. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 95 mph.

Heavy Rain in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:30:00 to 14-APR-12 19:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: COVERT
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Storm total precipitation as of mid evening was 3.17 inches.

Heavy Rain in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 06:00:00 to 15-APR-12 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm total precipitation of 3.56 inches was reported.

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 11:15:00 to 14-APR-12 11:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSBORNE
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 11:55:00 to 14-APR-12 11:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: BURR OAK
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:33:00 to 14-APR-12 19:33:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 14-APR-12 19:41:00 to 14-APR-12 19:41:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter