Excessive rainfall resulted in flash flooding and river flooding on this Saturday night, with the river flooding lasting into Tuesday. Isolated thunderstorms initiated over northwest Kansas late Saturday afternoon, near the Nebraska state line. Initially, the first storms moved to the northeast, but then they slowed and began drifting to the southeast. Other storms began developing around 6 p.m. CST, and exhibited multi-cell characteristics. By 8 p.m. CST, multiple cell mergers had resulted in a pair of small thunderstorm clusters oriented west-northwest to east-southeast, from Hitchcock County Nebraska to Graham County Kansas. Shortly thereafter, other storms erupted between these two clusters, resulting in the completion of a common cold pool. The westernmost cluster, over Hitchcock and Red Willow Counties in Nebraska, became mobile and accelerated to the southeast, merging with downstream storms, and eventually evolving into a short squall line affecting Rooks and Osborne Counties in north central Kansas. The southern edge of the cold pool remained quasi-stationary, with storms propagating southeastward along and to the north of it. Repeated thunderstorm activity, as well as the slow movement of the storms, resulted in excessive rainfall over Rooks and Osborne Counties as well as several other counties to the south, west, and northwest. The squall line took nearly 2.5 hours to cross Rooks County, moving at a speed near 16 mph. Three to seven inches of rain fell across portions of Phillips, Rooks, and Osborne Counties in less than six hours. Flash flooding resulted in numerous roads covered by water in Phillips and Rooks Counties. Some culverts were even washed out in parts of Rooks County. The runoff into the basin of the North Fork of the Solomon River resulted in rapid rises. At the river gauge near the town of Glade, the river had been running a little below 3 feet in the preceding days. Water levels began rising at that gauge early Sunday afternoon. In less than 3 hours, the river reached bankfull and went into flood at 11 feet. The crest occurred Sunday night with major flooding occurring. Soil moisture had been at or above normal preceding this event, with above normal rainfall over much of north central Kansas in the month of August.
This event occurred in the warm sector of a low pressure system over central Canada. Its trailing cold front was well-upstream from the Dakota's southwest into the Nebraska Panhandle, then west through Wyoming into Utah. High pressure was over the Northeast United States. An anomalous moisture plume existed in the return flow over the Plains. The 00Z Dodge City sounding indicated a precipitable water value of 1.46 inches, which was above the 90th percentile of all PW observations for the date. West-southwest flow prevailed aloft from the Desert Southwest to the Great Lakes, with a longwave trough along the West Coast, and a ridge over the eastern United States. A weak/subtle shortwave trough appeared to be moving through. Just prior to the thunderstorms moving into north central Kansas, temperatures were in the 70s, with dewpoints in the lower to middle 60s. Mid-level lapse rates were poor, but MUCAPE was still 1000-1500 J/kg. The low-level jet was 35-40 knots over western Kansas. Effective deep layer shear was between 40 and 45 knots, despite weak mid-level winds.

Flash Flood in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 23:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 05:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Storm total rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches of rain were reported. Emergency management reported that numerous county roads were covered in water, as was portions of Highway 9 in the Logan area. Though the flash flood threat waned, flooding along the North Fork of the Solomon River continued on for a couple days due to very heavy rainfall upstream of Phillips County.

Flash Flood in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 04-SEP-16 02:15:00 to 04-SEP-16 08:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAMAR
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Storm total rainfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches were reported. Emergency management reported numerous county roads covered in water across the area and a few culverts were washed out.

Flood in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 04-SEP-16 15:35:00 to 06-SEP-16 06:47:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: River/Stream Gage

Very heavy rain fell over the southern half of Norton County, the northern half of Graham County and far western portions of Phillips County during the late night hours of September 3rd and into the morning of the 4th. The runoff from this rain resulted in major flooding of the North Fork Solomon River. The river gauge located just south of Glade was above flood stage of 11 feet for almost 48 hours, and a new record crest occurred with a stage of 18.55 feet at 1:45 a.m. CST on September 5th. Area roads already affected by flash flooding during the early morning hours of the 4th saw no relief as the water upstream passed through, and a Labor Day event in the town of Logan was cancelled due to area road conditions.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PLAINVILLE
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

A storm total rainfall amount of 5.80 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

A storm total rainfall amount of 4.10 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: NATOMA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.78 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOGAN
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.50 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PRAIRIE VIEW
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 4.18 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PALCO
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 4.55 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PALCO
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 5.10 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAMAR
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 4.14 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: PLAINVILLE
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

A storm total rainfall amounts up to 6 to 6.50 inches were reported around town, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAMAR
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 5.52 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.

Heavy Rain in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 03-SEP-16 18:00:00 to 04-SEP-16 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: NATOMA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.28 inches was reported, most of which fell between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. CST.