February 20th 2012 severe storms

February 20th 2012 Severe Storms

What happened: A line of storms developed during the late afternoon hours of Monday February 20th and rapidly pushed east during the early evening hours. This line of storms produced large amounts of dime to nickel size; some hail was as large as quarters. Severe winds also accompanied the stronger storms which caused damage across parts of South Central and Southeast Kansas.

Meteorological Background: An intense upper level low pressure system quickly moved out of the Rockies and across Kansas on February 20th, 2012. Due to the fast movement of this system, rich surface moisture never had time to make it into Kansas with dewpoints only in the 40s by the afternoon hours. However, this upper level low pressure system possessed very cold mid and upper level air which created just enough instability to allow storms to produce hail and damaging winds.

Radar and Satellite Images

Wichita radar loop

Visible satellite from around 330pm

Hail Pictures

Hail in Southwest Wichita. Picture by Jerilyn Billings.

Hail near Waterloo in Kingman County. Picture by Fred Simon.

Reports

(click on image below for full list of reports)