Between 4 PM CDT on Wednesday afternoon the 25th and 130 AM CDT on early Thursday morning the 26th, the majority of this six-county area experienced two separate rounds of fairly widespread strong to severe multicell storms. The first round peaked in intensity between 430 PM and 8 PM CDT, developing in response to intense surface heating as temperatures soared into the 100-110F range near a slow-moving cold front. Although radar signatures suggest that severe-criteria gusts of 60 MPH or higher might have affected parts of several counties during this late afternoon/early evening time frame, the only ground-truth reports came out of Mitchell County including a caved-in garage door south of Beloit and a round hay bale rolled across a road near Simpson. Once this initial round of convection moved out of the area to the south and east, a lull ensued before the second round of strong to severe convection flared up after nightfall. This round peaked in intensity between 1030 PM and 1 AM CDT and again consisted of a number of multicell storm clusters and short line segments. Although reports of severe weather were again limited, these nighttime storms dropped golf ball size hail in the community of Jewell and produced a 69 MPH measured gust at the Rooks County airport south of Stockton. Somewhere along the way, a few power poles were also snapped off several miles west of Stockton. Event-total rainfall amounts were highly variable across the area, but most places averaged less than 1 inch. However, considerably higher totals were measured in southern Jewell County, including 3.87 at Jewell and 2.83 in Ionia.
In the mid and upper levels the flow was quasi-zonal, with the primary synoptic forcing for this event consisting of subtle shortwave energy passing through the Central Plains along the southern periphery of a dominant upper low centered near the North Dakota-Manitoba border. At the surface, a slow moving cold front gradually passed through North Central Kansas during the afternoon and evening. Although deep-layer vertical wind shear was rather meager at only around 25 knots at best, at least 1000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE in the presence of a hot and deeply-mixed airmass with surface temperature-dewpoint depressions on the order of 40-50F was quite favorable for downbursts, especially with the initial round of storms.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 25-JUL-12 18:00:00 to 25-JUL-12 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 52.00 MG
Property damage: 2.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts measured to at least 60 mph by a home weather station resulted in tree damage and a caved-in garage door.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 25-JUL-12 18:28:00 to 25-JUL-12 18:28:00 (CST-6)
Location: SIMPSON
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: County Official

Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.  A round hay bale rolled across the road near Greenwood Cemetary.

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 25-JUL-12 22:33:00 to 25-JUL-12 22:33:00 (CST-6)
Location: JEWELL
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated at 60 mph.

Thunderstorm Wind in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 25-JUL-12 23:15:00 to 25-JUL-12 23:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 60.00 MG
Property damage: 12.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Rooks County airport south of Stockton recorded a wind gust of 69 mph.  Wind damage was reported approximately 14 miles to the west-southwest of Stockton.  At least 4 power poles were damaged, multiple tree limbs were knocked down, and tin was removed from an outbuilding.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 25-JUL-12 17:01:00 to 25-JUL-12 17:01:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Winds gusts were estimated at 60 mph.