Power Outage in Benkelman, NE

EM reported extensive wind damage. About 45 power poles were snapped, pivots are overturned, and grain bins were damaged. Most of the poles were broken around Highway 61.

A member of the public reported power lines down in the city of Benkelman.

West-southwesterly to west-northwesterly winds up to 15 mph combined with cold temperatures as cold as 4 below produced wind chills as low as 21 degrees below zero across Dundy County. The coldest wind chills were observed near Haigler, Nebraska. Impacts: power outages.

Emergency Manager reported at least 2 power poles leaning and 6 inch diameter tree limbs down due to the wind. Half of a locust tree was broken off in town with another uprooted.

Ice accumulations of a half inch were reported across the county. The freezing rain and freezing drizzle turned to snow. The additional weight on power lines caused power outages for the Benkelman area.

Trees and power lines down across the county. Some were located in Benkelman but the damage sounded widespread. Time estimated by radar.

Six power poles were broke along highway 34 ENE of Benkelman. A house nearby had an outbuilding nearly blown over.

Observer reported two power poles were broken by strong winds with passage of a cold front. Arcing power lines then started a small fire which burned about 40 acres east of Benkelman. Time of report and peak wind gust estimated from Doppler radar and nearby mesonet observations.

Four to seven inches of snow was reported across the county by cooperative and CoCoRaHS observers. Strong winds resulted in blizzard conditions with road closures and power outages common. Thirty-five utility poles were damaged or broken during the event.

Observers reported snowfall totals of 3 to 5 inches across the county. The heavy, wet snow broke tree limbs and utility poles resulting in power outages in the area.

Visibility between zero and 1/8 mile. Trained spotters also reported 4-5 inches of snow and winds of 60 to 70 mph which resulted in power outages and broken tree limbs.

The strong winds did considerable damage between Parks and Benkelman. The damaging winds blew off a roof at a veterinary clinic. Also, trees were uprooted, numerous downed tree limbs, broken windows, downed poles and snapped power lines were observed.

Many uprooted trees, damaged buildings, and loss of power due to straight-line winds. One barn was totally destroyed with debris scattered at least 300 feet. Damage unknown in and around Benkelman.

In the late evening of the 28th, a line of thunderstorms moved south-southeast from the Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska border. In Nebraska, up to 2.75 inch diameter hail, and estimated 120 MPH wind gusts which snapped numerous power poles and damaged grain bins were reported. These storms lasted into the early morning of the 29th.

During the evening hours, a large line of storms moved east from the Colorado Front Range across extreme Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas. The line of storms was able to produce wind gusts up to 80 mph, which caused damage to trees and powerlines in Dundy County.

Arctic air moved into the High Plains following a winter weather system that brought up to 8.7 inches of snow to extreme southwest Nebraska over a span of three days. West-southwesterly to west-northwesterly winds sustained up to 15 mph caused wind chills as low as 21 degrees below zero to occur during the early morning hours. The extremely cold temperatures caused sporadic power outages in Dundy County. Impacts: power outages.

Storms developed along the dry line in central Colorado increasing in coverage as they moved east. The cells merged into clusters along a line as they entered southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas. The storms produced up to 79 mph wind gusts in Dundy, Hitchcock, and Red Willow counties. The 79 mph gust in Red Willow County caused snapped a power pole and downed various sized of tree limbs.

Thunderstorms initiated along a dry line in central Colorado moving east and forming a cluster of supercells that moved through Dundy, Hitchcock, and Red Willow counties along the Kansas and Nebraska border. The storms produced up to tennis ball sized hail and wind gusts up to 91 mph that blew out windows and garage doors, caused power poles to lean, power outages, and blew down trees along with various sizes of branches.

A powerful winter storm system moved across Southwest Nebraska during the afternoon from west to east. Not long after the snow starting the high winds developed, causing the visibility to be near zero at times for Dundy County. After the snow had ended the high winds continued into the following day. The peak gust was 74 MPH measured at McCook.

During the morning widespread blizzard conditions moved in from the east, and persisted into the afternoon before gradually shifting back east. Visibility of a quarter mile or less was reported across Hitchcock, Red Willow, and the east half of Dundy counties due to the combination of heavy snowfall and wind gusts around 40 MPH. The combined effect of the heavy snow and wind gusts snapped power poles, mainly east-west running power poles. During the worst of the blizzard roughly two-thirds of Red Willow County was without power, with most of the poles broken along Highway 89 in Red Willow County. Snowfall amounts were highest near the state line in Hitchcock and Red Willow counties where close to 20 inches fell. Amounts quickly declined to the northwest.

Ice accumulations of a quarter to half an inch were reported over Dundy and Hitchcock counties. The highest ice accumulation was reported near Haigler. Three waves of freezing rain and freezing drizzle transitioned to snow toward the end of the event, with up to three and a half inches of snow falling over these two counties. The additional weight of the snow on power lines caused power outages for the Benkelman and Trenton areas.

During the early evening severe thunderstorms rapidly intensified along a southward moving cold front. The largest hail reported with these storms was baseball size south of Stratton. The thunderstorms also produced damaging winds which caused structural damage to homes and blew several trees down in Max. An irrigation pivot was also destroyed near Max. Residents of Max and Stratton lost power for a brief time due to seven to eight electrical poles being blown down and the main power substation going off-line from the storm.

A series of boundaries interacted and provided a focus for thunderstorms to develop in southwest Nebraska. Damaging wind gusts were reported with these storms with damage including downed trees and power lines. Tree branches up to 3 inches in diameter were snapped and the highest recorded wind gust was 60 mph.

A small but intense thunderstorm developed and moved northeast across Dundy county during the early evening. The storm produced quarter size hail and strong outflow broke six power poles along highway 34 east of Benkelman.

A strong cold front raced south during the evening hours producing widespread wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph. As the front passed through Benkelman, power lines were downed east of town which resulted in a small fire.

An intense, slow-moving, winter-like storm moved across the Central High Plains on April 14-15. The storm produced a round of high winds with numerous gusts over 60 mph, in addition to wet, heavy snow. Blizzard conditions occurred in some areas with power outages occurring and state highways closed. Many residents were without power for periods of time ranging from 12 to 48 hours.

A slow-moving winter storm produced one to six inches of snow across extreme southwest Nebraska. Eighteen utility poles were broken from the weight of heavy, wet snow, resulting in power outages in parts of Dundy and Hitchcock counties.

Severe thunderstorms developed over NW Kansas and SW Nebraska during the early evening hours. One long-lived supercell moved slowly east across Sheridan and Graham counties in Kansas, producing baseball-sized hail and winds of 70-80 mph. Several grain bins were damaged or destroyed, hundreds of homes suffered broken windows on the north side of the dwellings, and minor power outages occurred. A grain bin was destroyed in the Danbury- Marion area in southern Red Willow county, Nebraska. Some minor roof damage and downed tree limbs also occurred.

A slow-moving low pressure system produced significant snow and ice accumulations across eastern Colorado, southwest Nebraska and western Kansas. Snow totals of 6-12 inches were common along the Kansas-Colorado border into extreme southwest Nebraska, with 1/2-11/2 inch ice accumulations in south-central Nebraska and north-central Kansas. This storm produced widespread power outages and affected many counties with heavy tree damage and loss of utility poles. In SW Nebraska, Dundy county received 3-6 inches of snow on top of 1/4 inch of ice, Hitchcock county received 1-2 inches of snow on top of 3/4 inch of ice, and Red Willow county received up to 1 inch of ice with little or no snow accumulation. Damage estimates are not yet available.

A slow-moving storm system moved out of Colorado into central Kansas. Strong gradient winds on the back side of the storm produced a prolonged period of very low visibility and extreme wind. Snowfall amounts across southwest Nebraska ranged from two to three inches in Dundy county to around seven inches in Red Willow county at McCook. Peak wind gusts were measured at 68 mph in McCook, resulting in whiteout conditions, five to ten-foot snow drifts and closure of all county roads for two days. Numerous power outages were also reported.

Strong outflow boundary from thunderstorms in NE Colorado and SW Nebraska swept rapidly southeast across parts of southwest Nebraska. Winds of 55 to 70 mph accompanied the outflow, including visibility reduced to 1/4 mile in blowing dirt. Power poles were knocked down on the east side of Trenton according to newspaper reports, with large tree limbs down in Palisade, Trenton, Stratton and Culbertson.

Ice storm across far southwest Nebraska made conditions hazardous from the afternoon of the 23rd to the 25th. There was damage to many power lines due to ice over 1.5 inches thick from the storm. Power was out in many towns as utility poles were down due to the ice and wind.