Hail — Riley, Kansas

2008-06-02 · near Keats, Riley, Kansas

Event narrative

Softball size hail demolished 98% of the cars parked at the Manhattan Regional Airport. Dents were also noted in the terminal building, and a stone hangar had it's windows blown out. Car dealerships and car rental facilities near the airport also report extreme damage to nearly every vehicle on the lot. Several hundred vehicles in the Manhattan Corporate Technology Park were severely dented by the large hail stones, and nary a car was left without having at least one window smashed. At the Auth-Florence Manufacturing Co. approximtely 250 employee cars were deemed total losses as a result of the hail. The hail between the size of baseballs, near Keats, and softballs, across the southwestern portion of Manhattan fell for nearly twenty minutes. Hail up to one and a quarter inches in diamter was reported across portions of the west side of the city of Manhattan. The homes in Random Woods looked to have suffered the most damage. It was reported by the local newspaper that several motorists were injured on K-18. These motorist had glass fly into their eyes when their windshields shattered as the hail fell. An exact number was not available.

Preliminary damage estimates were around $5,000,000- most of which was damage to vehicles.

Wider weather episode

A cluster of robust, intense severe thunderstorms developed during the morning horurs of June 2nd. Exceptional updrafts evident within these storms and high reflectivities through a deep layer within the thunderstorms (70 dbz to nearly 50,000 ft)produced hail up to the size of softballs at several locations across the county warning area. The stones caused the most damage on the southwest side of the city of Manhattan, where the airport, numerous businesses, and hundreds of vehicles were pummeled with the large stones. Residents noted that it was so dark under the storms, that they needed a flashlight to see. A newspaper interview noted that one resident reported that gravel was shooting ten feet in the air, driven by the large hail. Farm fields across portions of Franklin County also showed extensive damage. Small animals that were unable to seek shelter also fell victim to the hail stones. One Manhattan resident reported dead rabbits, squirrels, owls, and quail in his neighborhood.

The somewhat discrete storms congealed into a convective line as they pushed southeastward across the county warning area, and the primary severe weather threat became strong winds. Residents and law enforcement officers across portions of Douglas, Franklin, Anderson, and Jefferson Counties reported wind gusts in the 60 to 70 mile per hour range. Two individuals in Shawnee County measured wind gusts of 80 miles per hour. Power outages were reported across the city of Topeka, with some residents left without power through that evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.2200, -96.7293)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 101316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.