Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend featured a barrage of severe thunderstorms with large hail, primarily affecting Phillips, Rooks and Smith Counties within this six-county portion of North Central Kansas. For roughly 3.5 hours between 6-930 PM CDT, there were multiple reports of hail ranging from quarter to baseball size. The largest reported stones of 2.50-2.75 inches fell in Kirwin around 725 PM CDT. Hail of 1.75-2.00 inches in diameter fell in or near Athol, Webster Reservoir, Speed and Glade, with a home northwest of Glade suffering the loss of all south-facing windows. Although reports of severe-criteria wind gusts were sparse, a 66 MPH gust was measured at the Phillipsburg elementary school. Rainfall-wise, most areas averaged less than one inch, but a small corridor including Prairie View in northwest Phillips County measured 2.15 inches.
The coverage of storms during this event was rather widespread within the aforementioned three counties, with considerable development and intensification taking place between 6-7 PM CDT just east of a nearly stationary north-south surface dryline. Storm mode consisted of a mixed bag of fast-moving multicell and small supercells streaming north-northeast across the area. The last severe storm of the night within the local six-county area exited far northern Phillips County into Nebraska around 930 PM CDT. A bit later around 1030 PM CDT an isolated severe storm tried pushing into southeastern Mitchell County from Lincoln County but weakened as it did so. This severe weather event was anticipated several days in advance, and featured a Moderate Risk Day 1 Convective Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center. The primary forcing mechanism aloft was a strong shortwave pushing northeast out of Colorado, along the southeast periphery of a deep mid-level low centered in Montana. At the surface, the aforementioned dryline served as the primary low-level trigger, as it aligned from north central Kansas to the eastern Texas Panhandle at mid-afternoon. As this strong upper forcing intercepted the dryline and severe storms erupted, mesoscale convective parameters featured between 1000-2000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and impressive 0-6 kilometer vertical wind shear of 50-70 knots. A potential tornado threat was likely kept in check by somewhat high cloud bases, resulting from surface temperature-dewpoint spreads of 20-30F early in the event.

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:14:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:14:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATHOL
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:14:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:14:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATHOL
Magnitude: 2.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:24:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:24:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:40:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: GLADE
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

The south side of an area home had all of its windows broken.

Hail in SMITH, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:40:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: KENSINGTON
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:01:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:01:00 (CST-6)
Location: SPEED
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:04:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:04:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:09:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:09:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:11:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:11:00 (CST-6)
Location: WOODSTON
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Storm Chaser

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:23:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: KIRWIN
Magnitude: 2.75 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Hail ranging from golf ball to baseball size was reported.

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:28:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:28:00 (CST-6)
Location: GLADE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:30:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: KIRWIN
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:48:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 17:56:00 to 27-MAY-12 17:56:00 (CST-6)
Location: PLAINVILLE
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:00:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: AGRA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Hail was accompanied by wind gusts of 55 mph.

Thunderstorm Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:04:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:04:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 57.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Equipment located at the local elementary school recorded a wind gust of 66 mph.

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:01:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: SPEED
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 18:07:00 to 27-MAY-12 18:07:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-MAY-12 20:21:00 to 27-MAY-12 20:21:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter