June 3-7, 2015: Severe Weather, Heavy Rainfall and Significant Flooding Impact Parts of The Local Area

A few non-tornadic storm reports:
 

Reports from evening of June 3rd to morning of June 4th.

Click images below for more information.

Storm reports from June 3rd.	Radar Loop from June 3rd.

Reports from evening of June 4th to morning of June 5th.

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Storm reports from June 4th.	Radar loop from June 4th.

June 3rd: Preliminary Tornado Information:
 

Tornado tracks from June 3rd. Click to enlarge.

Images from June 3rd near Tipton, KS. Click to enlarge. Courtesy of Nick Biermann.

Tornado #1:  2.9 miles west of Tipton to 1.8 miles west of Tipton, Osborne County, KS.

Rating: EF-1
Estimated Peak Wind Speed: 100 MPH 
Time: 10:15 PM to 10:20 PM 
Path Length: 1.1 miles
Max Path Width: 125 Yards
Fatalities/Injuries: 0/0

This tornado set down on the curve about 3 miles west of Tipton, and moved southeast briefly before turning more easterly in direction and lifting a little over one mile later. 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. 

Tornado damage west of Tipton, KS. Photos from NWS Survey.

Tornado #2:  1.2 miles west-northwest of Tipton to 2.4 miles west of Tipton, Osborne County, KS.

Rating: EF-1
Estimated Peak Wind Speed: 95 MPH
Time: 10:17 PM to 10:24 PM
Path Length: 1.25 miles
Max Path Width: 100 yards
Fatalities/Injuries: 0/0

This tornado apparently moved west, and began with damage to a silo and large metal building. On its trek, the tornado tossed grain bin debris about three-quarters of a mile. The tornado narrowly missed a new home, but did do damage to a vacant home on the same property. The tornado appeared to lift in a field west of the farmstead. 

The movement of tornado #1 and tornado #2 suggested that the parent mesocyclone associated with the supercell was near the ground and these two tornadoes were rotating within the circulation, one to the east and the second tornado to the west. No obvious connection could be made between the two in the middle.  

Tornado damage west-northwest of Tipton, KS. Photos from NWS Survey.

Tornado #3:  1.6 miles east southeast of Tipton to 1.9 miles east southeast of Tipton, Mitchell County, KS.

Rating: EF-0
Estimated Peak Wind Speed: 75 MPH
Time: 10:28 PM to 10:31 PM
Path Length: 0.25 miles
Max Path Width: 25 yards
Fatalities/Injuries: 0/0

This was a brief tornado which toppled an empty grain bin, topped an elm tree and knocked over a metal tv antenna before lifting a quarter mile east of its starting point. 

Tornado damage east southeast of Tipton, KS. Photos from NWS Storm Survey.

Heavy Rainfall/Flooding:

While thunderstorms had been in the forecast day after day throughout the first week of June, it was June 3rd through the 5th that really packed a punch. Several rounds of thunderstorms, some of which produced rainfall rates of more than 2 inches per hour at times, trained over portions of the area. However, not all rain was dispersed evenly across south central Nebraska and north central Kansas (see images below). While some areas saw over 5 inches in two to three days, other locations struggled to get more than a few tenths of an inch.

Two-to-three-day rain totals over a widespread area including Hall, Adams, Hamilton, Clay, York, Fillmore, Nuckolls and Thayer counties averaged between 4 to 7 inches. Flooding and flash flooding were common and numerous roads were washed out. Along the west fork of the Big Blue River in southern York and northern Fillmore counties, significant flooding peaked in intensity between the 5th-7th, with the McCool Junction area reporting the worst flooding observed in at least 50 years! In contrast, some locations across north central Kansas, and many places north and west of the Tri-Cities in Nebraska, did not reap the benefits of this heavy rainfall (for example, between June 2nd-7th, Ord airport only received 0.68").

The brief table below lists a few of the highest rainfall totals over a 72-hour period from June 3rd-5th. This encompasses rainfall that fell from midnight on the 2nd to midnight on the 5th. At Hastings airport, the total of 4.74" on the 4th marked the highest daily total on record for the month of June, and was the 3rd-highest daily rainfall total for any day of the year!

Fortunately, a much-needed few days of warm and dry weather settled in from June 7-9, allowing flood waters to largely recede.

Please note: several sites experienced rain both before and after this time period, but the majority of the rainfall fell in this time frame.
 

Click images below to enlarge.

7-Day Observed Precipitation Totals Ending June 5th (Local View)

7-Day Observed Precipitation Totals Ending June 5th (Regional View)

Flooding in northern Adams County. Photo by Micah Dean Schutte.	Big Blue River between Stockham and Henderson. Photo from Erik Friesen.

Flooded bridge near Camp Kateri south of McCool Junction.	Water spilling into lowlands behind homes at Spring Lake northeast of McCool Junction	Big Blue on east side of McCool Junction. Bridge is about a quarter mile east of town.

 

Major flooding on West Fork of Big Blue River just southeast of Lushton in southwest York County. Photo looks east.	Volunteers filling sandbags in McCool Junction. Great community effort!