Shortly before sunrise on this Thursday morning this six-county North Central Kansas area endured its final severe thunderstorm of 2014, and considering the time of day, the semi-discrete storm's surprising furiosity made for a noteworthy event. In a mesoscale environment that appeared mainly supportive of non-severe elevated convection, this intense storm gradually became more surface-based as it first crossed southern Osborne County between 515-610 am CDT and then tore across the heart of Mitchell County from 610-700 am CDT before exiting the local area. While no verifying ground-truth severe weather reports were received from within Osborne and western Mitchell counties, that changed over eastern Mitchell County where there were numerous reports of large hail up to golf ball size, a measured wind gust of 73 MPH and estimated gusts up to 90 MPH. Not surprisingly, significant crop damage and some structure damage was reported, including windows broken out of homes and a destroyed farm Quonset building near Asherville. Also near Asherville, a semi truck slid off of Highway 24 in an area where golf ball size hail covered the road. The most intense core of this storm passed only a few miles to the south and east of Beloit, narrowly sparing the city.
Before this storm made early-morning headlines, it initially appeared that this entire North Central Kansas area would miss out on severe weather given that other clusters of severe convection during the preceding 12 hours instead focused just to the north over south central Nebraska and to the east within northeast Kansas. However, as increasing large-scale ascent pushed into Kansas from the west during the pre-dawn hours and intercepted the western fringes of a modest instability axis, a small line of storms first showed signs of intensification in the Ellis and southern Rooks County area around 5 am CDT. Within a short time, a portion of this line morphed into a semi-discrete strong to severe storm across southern Osborne County before really taking off over Mitchell County after 6 am CDT. On the synoptic scale aloft, this early-autumn event focused just downstream from a sharpening mid-upper trough axis aligned at sunrise from the central Dakotas to a mid level vort max over southeast Colorado. At the surface, this storm was post-frontal, as it formed slightly behind a modest cold front that passed through North Central Kansas during the night. Instability-wise, there was seemingly little support for such a robust early-morning storm given that most-unstable CAPE was only analyzed to be around 500 J/kg in the presence of surface dewpoints generally in the mid-50s F. However, 0-6 kilometer deep layer wind shear was certainly supportive of potential severe weather, having risen into the 50-60 knot range ahead of the approaching trough.

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 02-OCT-14 05:35:00 to 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 750.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Law Enforcement

At 635 am CDT, law enforcement reported that windows were broken from wind-driven hail on the south side of homes about 3 to 8 miles south of Beloit. These homes were located approximately from near Road L to Road P, just east of Highway 14. At 640 am CDT, a trained spotter reported golf ball size hail along with estimated 60 mph wind gusts, 5 miles south of Beloit.

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 to 02-OCT-14 05:51:00 (CST-6)
Location: ASHERVILLE
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 750.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Law Enforcement

At 640 am CDT, law enforcement reported that there were fields with destroyed crops  due to the combination of golf ball size hail and strong wind. These fields were on both the north and south sides of Highway 24 from Roads 350 to 380. At 651 am CDT, Law enforcement reported that golf ball size hail was covering Highway 24. A semi-truck slid off the road and overturned at the intersection of Highway 24 and Road 380 due to the copious amount of hail on the road.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 02-OCT-14 05:35:00 to 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 750.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind speeds at this stage of the storm were estimated at 60 mph. At 635 am CDT, law enforcement reported that windows were broken from wind-driven hail on the south side of homes about 3 to 8 miles south of Beloit. These homes were located approximately from near Road L to Road P, just east of Highway 14. At 640 am CDT, a trained spotter reported golf ball size hail along with estimated 60 mph wind gusts, 5 miles south of Beloit.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 to 02-OCT-14 05:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: ASHERVILLE
Magnitude: 78.00 EG
Property damage: 750.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Significant home damage was reported in this area. Approximately another mile and a half east, a farm Quonset was destroyed. The sheriff estimated that winds were at least 90 mph.

Thunderstorm Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 to 02-OCT-14 05:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: SCOTTSVILLE
Magnitude: 63.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

CoCoRaHS observer reported measured 73 MPH gust along with pea to dime size hail.