With a fairly classic meteorological setup for June severe weather in place, numerous semi-discrete strong to severe thunderstorms blossomed across this six-county North Central Kansas area on this Wednesday evening the 3rd into early Thursday morning the 4th. While these storms yielded mainly quarter size hail, and one report up to 2 diameter south of Burr Oak, the storm of the night was a slow-moving tornadic supercell that peaked in intensity from far east-central Osborne into central Mitchell County between 10 p.m.-midnight CDT. This storm produced three confirmed after-dark tornadoes, two rated EF-1 with path lengths around one mile near the Osborne/Mitchell County line west of Tipton, and a brief EF-0 touchdown slightly east of Tipton. The two stronger tornadoes, one of which moved east and one west under the parent mesocyclone, damaged or destroyed several farm outbuildings, but no injuries occurred. Around midnight CDT, this storm began losing supercell structure and weakening as it drifted northeast through the Beloit area. In addition to tornadoes, this storm produced torrential rainfall of at least 3-4 in a short time across central and western portions of Mitchell County. Other storms produced a swath of heavy rain of generally 1.50-3.00 across much of southern Jewell County. However, the majority of the six-county area totaled no more than 0.50-1.00.
Breaking down the overall event timing, several strong to severe storms first blossomed over Rooks and Osborne counties between 700-830 p.m. CDT. Over the next few hours, activity gradually expanded to the north and east, as the aforementioned tornadic supercell took center stage around nightfall. Between 130-230 a.m. CDT on the 4th, storms vacated the entire six-county area to the north and east. Several hours later between 6-8 a.m. CDT, additional elevated storms flared up primarily east of Highway 281, but were non-severe. Turning to the synoptic and mesoscale situation: with a generally west-east oriented surface front draped through the northern half of Kansas, seasonably strong instability and shear in place, and a strengthening 30-40 knot southerly low level jet ramping up during the night, this was a well-anticipated severe weather event. On the large scale, the Central Plains was under broad west-southwest flow aloft, well-downstream from a large trough centered over the West Coast. While modest capping held storms at bay through the afternoon, the combination of subtle, low-amplitude disturbances aloft and increasing lift along the developing low level jet sparked a rapid evening flare-up. At the surface, the evening hours featured steady easterly breezes and dewpoints in the mid-upper 60s F. Around the time the tornadic supercell developed, the mesoscale environment featured mixed-layer CAPE around 2000 J/kg, 0-6 kilometer deep-layer wind shear around 30 knots, and fairly strong 0-1 kilometer storm-relative helicity of at least 150 m2/s2.

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 19:42:00 to 03-JUN-15 19:47:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSBORNE
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

This report was received via Facebook.

Hail in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 19:42:00 to 03-JUN-15 19:47:00 (CST-6)
Location: NATOMA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail was widely scattered and mostly dime sized, but some hail was as large as quarters.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 20:58:00 to 03-JUN-15 20:58:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail was starting to cover the ground during the report.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:03:00 to 03-JUN-15 21:03:00 (CST-6)
Location: STOCKTON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Very little wind occurred. A rain total of 0.91 inches occurred as of the time of the report.

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:13:00 to 03-JUN-15 21:13:00 (CST-6)
Location: TIPTON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 23:10:00 to 03-JUN-15 23:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELOIT
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Heavy Rain in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:50:00 to 03-JUN-15 22:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: GLEN ELDER
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

This is an unofficial public report relayed by KWCH-TV of a one hour rainfall total of 3.12 inches. Heavy rain occurred before and after this hour, however.

Tornado in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:17:00 to 03-JUN-15 21:24:00 (CST-6)
Location: DOWNS
Tornado F-scale: EF1
Property damage: 250.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This tornado moved west, and began with damage to a silo and large metal building. On the tornado's trek, it tossed grain bin debris about three quarters of a mile. The tornado narrowly missed a new home, but damaged a vacant home on the same property. The tornado lifted in a field west of the farmstead. The movement of this tornado, along with the eastward moving tornado to the south, suggested that the parent mesocyclone associated with the supercell storm was near the ground and that the two tornadoes were rotating within that circulation.

Tornado in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:28:00 to 03-JUN-15 21:31:00 (CST-6)
Location: TIPTON
Tornado F-scale: EF0
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This was a brief tornado that toppled an empty grain bin, and also topped an elm tree and knocked over a metal TV antenna before lifting.

Hail in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 20:19:00 to 03-JUN-15 20:19:00 (CST-6)
Location: MANKATO
Magnitude: 2.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Tornado in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 21:15:00 to 03-JUN-15 21:20:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSBORNE MUNI ARPT
Tornado F-scale: EF1
Property damage: 200.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This tornado set down on the curve of the road about 3 miles west of Tipton, and moved southeast briefly before turning more east in direction, lifting about a mile farther. A farmstead near the point of touchdown had several outbuildings destroyed or heavily damaged, while tree limbs were damaged along the rest of the path. No one was living at the first farmstead hit by the tornado.

Hail in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-JUN-15 19:02:00 to 03-JUN-15 19:02:00 (CST-6)
Location: CODELL
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager