Hail in Smith County, Kansas

Two rounds of thunderstorms affected portions of north central Kansas on this Tuesday, driven by an upper level shortwave disturbance crossing the Plains, an accompanying surface cold front, and lift along a roughly 35 knot low-level jet. With mixed-layer CAPE values around 1000-1500 j/kg, but deeper layer shear only around 30 knots, some storms were on the strong side at times, but no severe weather was reported. The first round of thunderstorm activity moved into western portions of the area right around 8 AM CDT, but faded rather quickly as it approached Highway 281. Before diminishing around 10 AM CDT, nickel size hail was reported in the town Kensington in Smith County. Another cluster of storms pushed east roughly along Interstate 70 during the midday and afternoon hours, bringing nickel size hail to the area just south of Beloit in Mitchell County around 2 PM CDT.