Power Outage in Kearney, NE

Local television station reported downed power lines on the southeast side of Kearney.

Wind gusts estimated to be as high as 80 MPH, tree damage, and power outages occurred along and near this path. The peak measured gust was 68 MPH, recorded at 10:38 PM CDT by a mesonet station located three miles east-southeast of Kearney. Other measured gusts included 66 MPH at 10:24 PM CDT by a mesonet located 2 miles north-northeast of Kearney, 65 MPH at 10:22 PM CDT by a mesonet located 1 mile north of Kearney, and 63 MPH at 10:25 PM CDT by the Kearney Regional Airport AWOS. Law enforcement and emergency management reported at least one semi-truck, other trailers and campers were blown over on Interstate 80 in the Elm Creek area, with zero visibility due to wind and blowing dust. In Elm Creek itself, multiple tree limbs were downed and roof damage was reported. An 18-foot trailer was rolled into the alley behind a home and their neighbor's garage roof was partially torn off and blown into their yard. In and around Kearney, numerous tree limbs were downed, with several trees snapped off at the base. One tree fell onto a home and vehicle, causing some siding and fencing damage. Emergency management reported power outages across town with several transformers blown and some fires due to downed power lines, as well as a few streets, including Highway 30, blocked due to downed tree limbs. The most notable damage report was from the south side of Kearney, where the movie theater suffered major roof damage. Once part of the roof was ripped off, heavy rain fell inside, causing further damage. The theater is not expected to reopen until Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Wind gusts in and around Kearney were estimated to be in the 60 to 70 MPH range. Wind gusts of 61 MPH were recorded by the Kearney Regional Airport AWOS and a mesonet station located 2 miles north-northeast of Kearney. Small tree branches were downed around town, and a large tree limb knocked down power lines and snapped a power pole near the Buffalo County Fairgrounds. Some minor shingle damage was also reported on the northwest side of town.

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

A wind gust of 59 MPH was measured at the Kearney Regional Airport. A power line was downed in town due to a broken tree limb.

Severe wind gusts occurred along a line of outflow well ahead and south of a line of thunderstorms to the north. A power line was down from a fallen tree in the community of Shelton. The Buffalo County Emergency Manager estimated the wind gust at 60 MPH. The emergency manager also reported an accident just south on Interstate 80 that was possibly weather related. A nearby observation at the Kearney Airport recorded a measured wind gust of 59 MPH at 1:59 AM CDT at the same time of the wind damage. There was also a public report of an estimated 60 mph wind gust was reported 3 miles south of Gibbon at the Windmill State Recreation Area.

Power was lost in part of the city.

Wind gusts were estimated at 70 MPH. A large tree was uprooted and a power pole was knocked down in Kearney.

Wind gusts were estimated at 80 MPH. Damage later reported in the area by the Emergency Manager included outbuildings damaged, power poles knocked over, and overturned pivots.

One home reported roof damage, numerous grain bins were either damaged or destroyed, and a number of power poles were snapped, causing power outages in the area. Multiple reports were received of damage to area trees and crops.

One home reported roof damage, numerous grain bins were either damaged or destroyed, and a number of power poles were snapped, causing power outages in the area. Multiple reports were received of damage to area trees and crops.

This tornado started in northeast Phelps County and crossed into Buffalo County. The twister skipped across southern parts of Buffalo County south of the city of Kearney. A billboard sign near the interstate was damaged and irrigation pipe was tossed about. Some trees and power poles were also damaged.

This tornado started in northeast Phelps County and crossed into Buffalo County. The twister skipped across southern parts of Buffalo County south of the city of Kearney. A billboard sign near the interstate was damaged and irrigation pipe was tossed about. Some trees and power poles were also damaged.

This tornado was the most organized tornado that hit the city of Kearney this night and was the most persistent. It appeared to stay on the ground for the majority of its 22 mile path in Buffalo County. The tornado did exit Buffalo County and entered Hall County. The tornado started in the northwest part of the city of Kearney where it damaged an apartment complex. It took the roof off of part of the complex, blew out a wall and stacked a couple of cars in the parking lot. The tornado then moved east, damaging trees in Harmon Park and took a part of the roof off a building near the hospital. At the Buffalo County Fairgrounds, it caused a portion of the Expo Center building to collapse. Two people in this building were shook up but not injured. The tornado then continued east to the Kearney Airport where it destroyed a hanger and the cooperate jet housed inside. The tornado then continued on east and northeast through rural parts of Buffalo County. Several farmsteads were hit but damage was limited to shingles removed from roofs, outbuildings damaged and empty grain bins destroyed. There were multiple power poles and lines down by this storm.

This tornado started west of Kearney and moved east. Eye witness reports indicate this was a multi-vortex tornado that skipped along US Highway 30 through Kearney and ended near Shelton. Near the start of this twister, scores of empty coal train cars were blown over. The tornado did affect a large part of the central area of Kearney. A report from the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department���s wind system showed 100 mph winds as it passed through the downtown area. There were hundreds of trees and literally thousands of tree limbs that crashed into homes, businesses, and vehicles. There was some minor siding and roof damage to structures caused by the winds. These winds also knocked down power lines and signs and displaced several empty grain bins. Tree damage was noted in the villages of Gibbon and Shelton.

Mainly between 3:30-6:30 p.m. CDT on this Saturday afternoon, a relatively narrow, southwest-northeast swath of South Central Nebraska experienced severe thunderstorms featuring several reports of damaging winds up to around 70 MPH and hail up to ping pong ball size. The vast majority of local severe activity unfolded within 10 miles either side of a line extending from Elwood-Overton-Ravenna-St. Paul-Wolbach. Within this corridor, the most notable wind damage occurred within and very near Howard County, as places extending from just east of Farwell and through the St. Paul, Elba and Wolbach areas experienced winds estimated to at least 65-70 MPH, causing fairly extensive tree damage and also taking down some irrigation pivots and power lines. Outside of this main area of damaging wind (and earlier in the event), the highest unofficial mesonet-measured wind gust of 60 MPH occurred in Elm Creek. Also outside the main severe wind zone (and a bit later in the evening) a rogue, briefly severe storm that flared up behind the main activity blew down a large tree in a neighborhood along the Platte River near Central City. As for hail, the largest reported stones to ping pong ball size occurred between Lexington and Overton (including at the Overton golf course) and also in rural northwestern Buffalo County. ||Breaking down event evolution/timing, this was a fairly classic setup for high-based severe storms, largely driven by a combination of intense heating and decent low level convergence along a well-defined summer cold front gradually tracking across Nebraska from northwest-to-southeast. Storms first ignited just southwest of the local area (near McCook) shortly before 3 p.m. CDT in a very hot/deeply mixed airmass (shortly before initiation the McCook airport reported a temp/dewpoint of 107/56 F). Between 3:30-4:30 p.m. CDT strong to severe storms quickly unzipped northeastward along the frontal zone into western portions of South Central Nebraska, assuming a mix of multicell and brief supercell structures as they first impacted primarily Gosper/Dawson/Buffalo counties. Over the next few hours, the most intense storms marched across parts of mainly Sherman, Howard, eastern Greeley and far western Nance counties before departing the local area into eastern Nebraska by around 6:30 p.m. CDT. In the wake of this main event, mostly weak convection roamed predominantly southern/eastern portions of South Central Nebraska well into the night...with the briefly-severe storm near Central City around 8 p.m. CDT serving as the last gasp of anything feisty. Getting back to the meteorological setup, this event was fairly weakly-forced in the mid-upper levels, with southern Nebraska residing along the southern fringes of modestly-strong, quasi-zonal flow directed between an upper ridge centered over the Southern Rockies and a trough centered far to the north over southern Canada. As mentioned, the main player at the surface was the invading cold front, with the combination of frontal forcing and intense heating/stout instability proving sufficient to overcome notable capping (evidenced by 700 millibar temperatures averaging 14-16 C). This was actually one of the top-5 hottest days of 2022 across the majority of South Central Nebraska, with most stations topping out between 99-106 F. Through most of this event, the local mesoscale environment featured 1000-3000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and 30-35 knots of deep layer wind shear.

This Monday afternoon-evening featured the third consecutive day of severe thunderstorms within South Central Nebraska, this time highlighted by a few intense supercells that rolled southeastward through primarily central portions of the area, leaving behind fairly narrow (but in places significant) swaths of damaging winds and/or large hail. The first supercell of the day to invade the local area actually barely brushed its northeast edges, dropping out of northeast Nebraska and skirting eastern/northern portions of Nance, Merrick and Polk counties mainly 3:15-4:15 p.m. CDT before weakening. Although radar signatures and reports from just outside this coverage area suggested that larger hail likely occurred within a small part of South Central Nebraska (especially eastern Nance), the only ground-truth consisted of nickel size stones in Genoa. Following this early activity, a lull of a few hours ensued before the day's main event got underway, consisting of a closely knit pair of twin supercells (precipitation cores separated by no more than 10-15 miles) that marched in step through primarily the following counties between 7-9:30 p.m. CDT: northeastern Dawson, much of Buffalo, northeastern Phelps, much of Kearney, northern/eastern Franklin and western Webster (the separate storm cores eventually merged southeast of Minden). As for wind impacts along this corridor, a few of the most notable reports featured: estimated 100 MPH winds in the Minden area that took down three large metal transmission towers; a mesonet-measured gust of 79 MPH near Axtell and a garage destroyed in town; estimated 70 MPH gusts in the Elm Creek, Kearney and Campbell areas (Kearney Regional Airport AWOS peaked at 61 MPH). All along the aforementioned corridor, there were many instances of flipped irrigation pivots, broken power poles and damaged crops. Hail reports were limited during this main event, but size tended to prevail on the smaller to marginally-severe spectrum, including quarter size stones in Sumner, Odessa and Axtell. About an hour after this initial supercell cluster departed Webster County into Kansas, another large supercell took aim into eastern Dawson/western Buffalo counties from the northwest between 10:30-11:30 p.m. CDT, following a remarkably similar path as the earlier storms and yielding reports of quarter to golf ball size hail in the Eddyville and Miller area before weakening while approaching Interstate 80. A bit later this storm reintensified to radar-indicated severe levels in the Blue Hill area, but there were no verifying reports before it weakened for good over Nuckolls County by 1:30 a.m. CDT, ending the severe storm threat for the night. Outside of the aforementioned supercells, the only other South Central Nebraska severe weather report was a rogue 59 MPH wind gust in Edison, associated with the north end of an overall-weak convective complex that brushed through Furnas, Harlan and Franklin counties from the west between 9-11 p.m. CDT.||Turning to the meteorological background, all supercells that impacted South Central Nebraska initiated at least slightly, if not significantly off to the north-northwest before infiltrating the local area. In fact, the later-evening supercell that entered Dawson/Buffalo counties around 10:30 p.m. CDT developed and first became severe-warned some eight hours prior and 320 miles away...over Weston County, WY! Clearly, the mesoscale environment was quite supportive of long-lived supercells. From a big picture perspective, the basic mid-upper level situation over Nebraska had changed little versus the previous few days, continuing to feature persistent west-northwest flow. However, the big difference on the 6th was that this upper flow became noticeably stronger (aided by the arrival of a pronounced jet streak evident at 300 millibars). As a result, deep layer wind shear ramped up to as high as 50-60 knots. This strong shear profile more than compensated for seasonably-modest instability levels, with evening mixed-layer CAPE over South Central Nebraska only averaging 1000-1500 J/kg. At the surface, there were no features of note, only a weak frontal zone stretched across Nebraska in generally west-northwest to east-southeast fashion.

A strong cold front brought intense non-thunderstorm and thunderstorm-related wind gusts to south central Nebraska on Sunday evening the 11th. This front entered western portions of the Hastings NWS county warning area (CWA) around 7pm CDT. The cold front already had a history of producing severe caliber, non-thunderstorm, straight line winds over western and central Nebraska, and this trend continued along and just behind the cold front as it marched through south central Nebraska. The strongest winds, initially, were focused roughly along an area from Furnas County northeast into Buffalo County, where measured and estimated wind gusts of 55-65 mph were fairly common. Damage reports from these areas were fairly typical for winds of this magnitude and mainly limited to tree and power line damage. By 7:30pm CDT, an area of showers and thunderstorms developed along and just behind the cold front over Kearney and Franklin Counties as the cold front continued to progress east. This activity reached roughly the Highway 281 corridor from Grand Island to Hastings around 8pm CDT. Wind gusts associated with the passage of the cold front had weakened slightly by this time, but were still quite strong around 50-55 mph, with mainly minor tree damage and power outages reported in the Tri Cities. After 8pm CDT, the area of thunderstorms began to expand northeast and connected up with existing thunderstorms that had already developed along the cold front over northeast and east central Nebraska, essentially filling in a gap that had existed in between the two thunderstorm clusters. Thunderstorm intensity increased just east of Hastings between 8pm CDT and 8:30pm CDT, such that the wind gusts produced by the thunderstorms exacerbated the already-high ambient synoptically driven non-thunderstorm wind gusts associated with the cold front. This resulted in the strongest wind gusts of the evening, generally 60 to 70mph, in a swath that covered portions of Clay, Fillmore, and Thayer Counties. Significant tree damage occurred in these areas, along with damage to a few empty grain bins. Another significant impact, albeit somewhat less obvious or common than typical tree/power line damage, was blowing dust and corn stalks (this event occurred during the harvest season) that led to reduced visibility and ultimately contributed to a four-vehicle accident along Highway 81 just north of Bruning. Another incidence of poor visibility caused a vehicle to leave the roadway in Clay County. ||The highest wind gust with this event was 71 mph, measured by a mesonet station in Thayer County. As mentioned above, the damaging wind events in the eastern half of the CWA were largely driven by convective winds that enhanced already-high ambient winds. Farther west, the severe wind was non-convective and driven by intense pressure rises behind the cold front on the order of 3-5 mb/2 hrs. Overall, this event was one of the more significant wind events of the season and was somewhat unique due to the narrow overlap, spatially and temporally, of both convective and non-convective damaging winds.

Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds affected areas along Interstate 80 during the early morning hours of July 10th. Thunderstorms initially developed over the western Sandhills in central Nebraska during the late afternoon and early evening hours of July 9th. Two supercells merged northwest of North Platte, which resulted in one, forward moving supercell that transitioned to produce intense winds. 80-90mph winds were noted in the North Platte area, including an 87mph gust measured at the North Platte Airport. This activity continued to produce intense damaging wind as it moved southeastward into western Dawson County around 1am CDT on July 10th. The most intense winds occurred in the Cozad area with measured gusts up to 75mph resulting in widespread, significant tree damage in addition to building, power pole, and crop damage. Also, a semi tractor trailer was overturned on Interstate 80 west of Cozad. Another overturned semi tractor trailer was reported just west of Lexington. No injuries or fatalities were reported. Damage in Lexington was not as intense and limited to mainly tree damage with a measured gust at the Lexington Airport of 59mph, respectively. Thunderstorms continued to weaken as they shifted east, with only sporadic, minor tree damage noted in Kearney around 2am CDT. Thunderstorms dissipated to weak showers by 3am CDT.||Overall, it appears that this thunderstorm activity overachieved it���s meteorological environment, at least thermodynamically. The main instability axis of moderate MLCAPE of 1000-2000 J/kg was located primarily across the western High Plains, with generally less than 1000 J/kg of MLCAPE noted across western portions of the Hastings CWA. Instability quickly decreased with eastern extent, which likely led to the rapid decrease in thunderstorm intensity between Lexington and Kearney. However, what was lacking in the thermodynamic environment was likely compensated for kinematically as deep layer shear was impressive at 50-60 kt owing to significant veering of winds from southeast near to surface to west-northwest in the mid levels.

Excessive rainfall, flash flooding, and severe winds occurred on this Monday afternoon and evening. Widely scattered thunderstorms began forming around 1 PM CST along and west of Highway 183. By 2 PM CST, a persistent line segment of thunderstorms began affecting western Dawson county. Over the following four hours, this southwest-northeast oriented line slowly crept east across Dawson county into western Buffalo county, with its southwest end moving from Gosper county into Phelps county. A downburst occurred in Cozad where winds were measured at 63 mph. Further east, trees were damaged near Elm Creek. This line of storms subsequently weakened as it moved into eastern Buffalo county. However, between 5 and 9 PM CST, numerous small thunderstorms formed over Gosper, Furnas, Phelps, and Harlan counties. Storms kept forming over these counties until a multi-county area of persistent heavy rain enveloped these counties and expanded north to include Dawson and Buffalo counties. By 9 PM CST, the heaviest rain had morphed to the southeast side of a large, expanding rain shield, with a nearly stationary band stretching from southwest to northeast across Furnas, Phelps, and Buffalo counties. After 10 PM CST, a large squall line that had developed far to the west, over the high plains, began moving into south-central Nebraska. It brought a third period of heavy rain to these counties, but its cold pool aided in shoving the training, slow-moving mass of heavy rain eastward. The two areas of rain merged with a progressive squall line subsequently advancing across the rest of the south central Nebraska. The squall line exited into southeast Nebraska by 230 AM CST. Severe downburst winds occurred a few spots with this squall line. A few tree limbs were snapped off in Oxford and Kearney, and 36 power poles were snapped off over a 2-mile stretch southeast of Holdrege. The highest rainfall total reported was 10.65 inches 3 miles southwest of Odessa. The second highest was 8.88 inches in Loomis. 8.33 fell near Hildreth, 7.66 in Riverdale, 7.60 near Lexington, 6.50 near Cozad, 5.90 near Minden, and 5.64 on the southwest side of Kearney.||Late in the afternoon, a few thunderstorms moved north from Kansas ahead of the storms west of Highway 183. These storms produced some spotty tree damage in Webster and Kearney counties, and damage two livestock sheds in the town of Ayr. A brief rope tornado was also reported near Roseland. ||At the surface, a stalled front extended from the Mid-Atlantic states west to the southern Kansas border. Throughout the day, this front gradually lifted north as a warm front. Meanwhile, low pressure over eastern Colorado moved into northwest Kansas, joining the western end of the front. In the upper-levels weak southwest flow was over Nebraska with a longwave trough advancing eastward through the western U.S., and a ridge over the Upper Midwest. An embedded shortwave trough moved out of Colorado and crossed Nebraska, creating a favorable environment for thunderstorms. As the initial thunderstorms developed, the environment was characterized by surface temperatures in the lower to middle 80s, with dewpoints in the lower 70s. Mid-level lapse rates were poor, but despite that, MLCAPE was 2500-3000 J/kg. Deep layer shear was weak at less than 20 kt. Precipitable water values were around 1.70 inches, which was close to a record. ||The excessive rainfall resulted in flash flooding in parts of Dawson, Gosper, Furnas, Harlan, Phelps, and Buffalo counties, including flooding across parts of U.S. Highways 6, 30, 183, and 283. Numerous gravel county roads were inundated by flood waters and impassible. Many of them were severely damaged. Roads in the city of Kearney were flooded from one curb to the other, and in at least two separate places, water was 3 to 4 ft deep. Almost 40 vehicles were stranded in Kearney streets. Basements were flooded in some homes due to egress windows breaking. The student union was flooded on the University of Nebraska campus in Kearney. Two to three feet of water was reported in the lower level of the food court. In Lexington, cars were stalled in flood waters and 23 people were evacuated from an apartment building due to flooding. The Red Cross opened a shelter to care for those evacuated.||In some areas, the impacts worsened the following day as creeks swelled out of their banks. Gibbon, Kearney, Odessa, Elm Creek, and Lexington were all severely impacted. U.S. highway 30 was closed due to floodwater from Shelton to Kearney to Elm Creek, as well as near Lexington. Turkey Creek drains into the North Channel of the Platte River, which runs through the south side of Kearney. Water rapidly rose on the south side of the city Tuesday morning, inundating numerous hotels, restaurants, businesses, and basements. At least 200 people had to be evacuated from hotels using construction grade front-end loaders. Approximately 100 other nearby residents needed to be evacuated as well. At its peak, water was 2 to 4 feet high inside the hotels, and 4 to 5 feet high in the parking lots. The water rose so quickly that many people staying at the hotels did not have time to move their vehicles. Most vehicles at the hotels were a total loss. Hundreds of vehicles in the city had to be towed. Some businesses were closed for weeks, others for months, as repairs and remodeling were completed. Kitchen equipment was ruined at some restaurants. Of the 1800 hotels rooms in Kearney, only about 600 were available for use because first floor services, such as check-in desks, laundry facilities, and kitchens were damaged. Stagecoach souvenir shop lost 2,000 pounds of merchandise. Second avenue, which is the main north-south thoroughfare through the city, was closed from Interstate 80 to 11th avenue. The Interstate 80 off ramp was also closed. All traffic to and from the Interstate, from the city, had to use the Kearney East Expressway. Approximately 400 Kearney homes were damaged by the flood, and many more beyond city limits. Just as one example, an egress window gave way in a home on the southeast side of Kearney. Water rushed into the basement, filling it nearly to the ceiling. Extensive flooding resulted in the closure of Yanney Park. A power substation flooded and resulted in power outages to about 450 customers. Flood waters began to subside Wednesday, July 10th, which allowed for one lane of 2nd avenue to be reopened in each direction.||In Odessa, flooding was significant. Water was 4 feet deep on Webb street. A little further south, the Odessa exit from Interstate 80 was closed because of significant flooding. Water was about 3 feet deep at the truck stop adjacent to the Interstate. Semi trucks and cars pulled into the truck stop due to the heavy rain Monday evening, but by 630 AM CST Tuesday, water was up to the top of the wheel wells on several semi's. Flooded vehicles had to be towed. The Platte River, which is very wide and shallow, rose 3 feet in 12 hours from 6 PM CST Monday to 6 AM CST Tuesday, and 4 feet in 24 hours. It is very difficult for the Platte River to flood, but it crested at 8.3 feet at 515 PM CST Tuesday. Flood stage is 7 feet.||In the town of Elm Creek, many roads and basements were flooded. A gauge on Elm Creek indicated that the water level rose 8 feet in 2 hours Monday evening.||The city of Lexington issued a disaster declaration due to the disruption of utility services. Streets and homes were flooded with sewers backing up into homes. ||Flooding was extensive along the Wood River. Moderate flooding occurred at Riverdale with water covering the bridge just north of town. Further to the north, flooding forced the closure of state highway 10 between Pleasanton and Hazard.||In Gibbon, water flooded streets and basements for the second time this year. The northeast side of town was impacted the worst with at least 30 homes and several businesses inundated by floodwater. People had to sandbag their homes and businesses. It is believed that flooding on the Wood River was wider with this event, due to changes in the riverbed from the prior flood in March. Some places that did not flood in that event, flooded this time. Many people commented, I can't believe this has happened twice. Several businesses affected by the March flood still remained closed due to damage.||Amtrak trains that travel between Chicago and Emeryville, CA were halted in Lincoln and McCook due to the flooding. There were probably many more impacts that were not documented here as it is not possible to include everything. Widespread flooding of low-lying areas, creeks, and rivers continued for several days following the excessive rain. Flood waters did not recede in some locations until Monday, July 15th. This devastating flood occurred just four months after a catastrophic flood occurred nearby in mid-to-late March. That flood affected areas primarily along and north of the Platte River.

Hail up to the size of baseballs and severe winds occurred on this Wednesday evening. During the late afternoon hours, a small number of storms formed over north central Nebraska. While they were initially supercells, these storms weakened from destructive interference as they moved south-southeast. One storm did produce a little nickel size hail over southwest Valley county around 7 PM CST. The main show was an incredible supercell that developed near Mason City around that time. The storm moved across Sherman, Buffalo, and Kearney counties over the following 2 hours, and put on a spectacular lightning and cloud-structure show. The storm was all by itself. People were taking pictures of the storm as far away as Harlan County Lake. This storm produced hail up to the size of golf balls from near Litchfield all the way down to just east of Kearney. There were spotty areas of crop damage, from hail and wind, along the way. The largest hail was the size of baseballs in Hazard, but there must have been a small number as there was very little damage visible the following day. The storm probably remained severe into northern Kearney county, but no additional reports were received south of I-80. The storm then weakened after 9 PM CST. Another storm moved out of Custer county and into Valley county just after 8 PM CST. This storm moved along nearly the identical path of the first storm. The most intense portion of this storm was during its journey through eastern Buffalo county. Golf ball size hail was reported between Kearney and Gibbon at 950 PM CST. Because these storms affected the same area of Buffalo county, there is uncertainty on which storm produced the crop damage. These storms weakened and dissipated during the late evening hours. However, another intense multicell complex had formed over north central Nebraska. This complex moved across Nance, Polk, Merrick, and York counties between 1130 PM and 2 AM CST. A utility company reported some trees and tree limbs were blown down or snapped off in northern Polk county, resulting in some power outages between Silver Creek and Highway 81. The exact location(s) was unclear. A weather station near York also measured winds of 59 MPH.||These storms formed in the vicinity of a developing warm front, as cyclogonesis was occurring over South Dakota. Fairly flat west-northwest flow was over the U.S. with a subtropical high over New Mexico. A potent northwest-southeast-oriented shortwave trough was progressing through the Dakota's. The nose of an anomalously strong jet streak was on the southern side of the trough. The evening and night were very muggy and warm. Temperatures fell from the 80s into the 70s, while dewpoints were in the lower 70s. Despite poor mid-level lapse rates, MUCAPE was 2500-3000 J/kg. Deep layer shear was around 50 kt, very strong for this time of the summer.

Although this heavy snow/near-blizzard event that targeted mainly the northwestern one-third of South Central Nebraska would have easily qualified as significant/memorable even during the traditional winter months, its legacy ultimately flirted with historic given that it primarily unfolded on the final day of April, with lingering light accumulation even hanging on into the early morning hours of May 1st. By the time this snow-maker finally departed the region, it left behind wet, heavy snow accumulation of 4-12 across many western local counties, and some rural areas especially in and near Furnas County endured scattered power outages lasting several days. As just one example of the rare nature of such a significant, late-season snow event, the NWS cooperative observer at Cambridge measured a storm total of 7.3, making this the heaviest snow on record there so late into the spring season (records dating back 118 years). In terms of known measured amounts, (from a combination of NWS and CoCoRaHS observers) the outright-highest featured 12 near Lexington and 10 near Sumner, Arapahoe and Arcadia. During the height of the storm on Sunday the 30th, a portion of Interstate 80 was closed for a time due to near-blizzard conditions. With the very basic facts of this significant event now outlined, the remainder of this narrative will consist of additional details sorted by topic, including: general overview and snowfall specifics, storm total precipitation details, and temperature highlights. ||General overview and synoptic weather setup/snowfall details: A powerful mid-upper low pressure system gradually approached and eventually passed through the Central Plains between Friday, April 28th and Monday, May 1st. For roughly the southeastern two-thirds of the local coverage area (including the Tri Cities), this system was primarily a rain-maker, bringing a much-needed and widespread swath of 2.00-3.50 to most areas, along with a rare, late-season coating of light snow. However, for primarily nine western and northern counties (especially Furnas/Gosper/Phelps/Dawson/western Buffalo/Sherman/Valley), this storm will go down in history as one of the most significant, late-season snow events on record, as much of this area was blanketed with anywhere from 4-12 of heavy, wet snow during a 24-hour period between the morning of the 30th and the 1st. The combination of this heavy, wet snow building up on power lines and trees, along with northerly winds gusting up to around 50 MPH at times, resulted in several power outages mainly in rural areas, some of which lasted for several days. While some northern and western areas actually received a little snow during the daytime hours on Friday the 28th, by far the main event occurred between the morning of the 30th and the morning of May 1st as the heart of the powerful low pressure system tracked slightly south-through-east of the local area across KS and toward IA and MO. During this time, a roughly 80-mile band of snow fell along a sharply-defined path from western Kansas, northward into north central Nebraska. Within South Central Nebraska, the vast majority of accumulations of 2 or higher focused west of a line from Stamford-Kearney-Spalding, with minimal-to-no snow observed east of this line. While not officially a true blizzard in most areas, near-blizzard conditions were common at times on the 30th as frequent northerly wind gusts of 40-50 MPH combined with the heavy snow to greatly reduce visibility. Because temperatures hovered near-to-slightly above freezing through this entire snow event, some melting continuously occurred. This factor likely played into the fact that official snow totals varied more than usual over short distances, as observers who took measurements during the height of the event reported overall-higher totals than those who waited until the following morning to measure (after some melting had already occurred). While by far the largest amounts focused in western counties, even the lighter totals in central/eastern counties made for some noteworthy climate facts. For example, at Hastings, although only 0.6 officially fell on May 1st, this was nonetheless the largest May snow in 50 years (since 1967).||Storm total precipitation (rain and liquid equivalent snow): Cumulative, 4-day amounts from the 28th-1st tallied 2.00-3.50 across most of South Central Nebraska, with locally higher totals up to 4.73 reported at Wilsonville. Fortunately, much of this precipitation fell in separate rounds and was relatively spread out over these four days, which kept flooding issues to a minimum. For most of the area, this was actually a much-needed significant precipitation event, as parts of especially the southern half of South Central Nebraska had been running a respectable year-to-date precipitation deficit up until this point. ||Temperature highlights: Sunday, April 30th (during which most snow fell) was a record-cold day across most of South Central Nebraska, featuring high temperatures only between 35-40 F. However, the very next day (Monday, May 1st), widespread sunshine returned and promoted markedly-warmer highs between the mid-50s and mid-60s, resulting in a faster-than-anticipated snow melt.

The mid-late afternoon hours on this Tuesday featured a smattering of strong to marginally severe thunderstorms primarily within the southwestern quadrant of South Central Nebraska (generally near/south of Interstate 80 and west of Highway 281). Within this area, there were a handful of severe-criteria wind gust and/or wind damage reports, including estimated 60 MPH gusts with four-inch tree limbs down eight miles south of Elwood, some minor tree damage in Red Cloud and also some limited tree damage and a power line down in Gibbon. There were no reports of large hail. Although there was no ground-truth confirmation of flooding, locally heavy rain in excess of three inches drenched portions of southeastern Harlan and far southwestern Franklin counties due to a combination of not only afternoon convection, but also redevelopment of a few strong storms during the night between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. CDT. Within this small zone, event-total rain totals featured 3.75 two miles northwest of Republican City (NeRAIN observer) and 3.37 at Naponee (NWS coop observer). ||Focusing on timing, weak convection got underway early in the afternoon within extreme western portions of South Central Nebraska. However, it took a few hours for strong to severe activity initially over southwestern Nebraska to create a sufficient cold pool and push eastward into the local area between 3-4 p.m. CDT in the form of a north-to-south oriented bowing line segment. While this initial surge of winds resulted in the damage reports from Gosper and Buffalo counties, newly developing multicell storms soon blossomed farther east within counties along the state line, including the one responsible for tree damage in Red Cloud. While there were no reports of severe weather after 4:30 p.m. CDT, fairly widespread coverage of showers and storms persisted within much of South Central Nebraska through around 8 p.m. CDT. Beyond sunset, isolated to scattered thunderstorms redeveloped over several state-line counties along the nose of a modest low level jet, producing the aforementioned heavy downpours in Harlan/Franklin counties. Finally, by 6 a.m. CDT, the vast majority of South Central Nebraska was rain-free. In the larger scale of the mid-upper levels, this event was instigated by a slow-moving, elongated shortwave trough gradually sinking from northwest-to-southeast through the Central Plains. At the surface, afternoon convection intensified just to the north of a quasi-stationary front stretched west-to-east across northern Kansas. Around the time severe storms first entered the local area temperatures were only in the 70s F, but the mesoscale environment contained around 1500 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and deep layer wind shear of 30-35 knots.

Although minor accumulation persisted well into the day across parts of South Central Nebraska on Monday the 15th, one of the first ���impactful��� snow events of the 2014-15 winter season occurred mainly during the pre-dawn hours as generally 1-4 inches of fairly wet snow targeted several counties primarily west of the Highway 281 corridor. Within this area, locations roughly 15 miles either side of a line from Ord-Elm Creek-Oxford received the most concentrated swath of steady, wind-blown snow, the majority of which fell between 2-8 a.m. Even more specifically, some of the overall-worst early-morning travel conditions focused within a narrow, north-south oriented snow band over Phelps and western Buffalo counties. Including the generally light accumulation that lingered well into the day, a few of the top storm total snowfall totals from NWS cooperative observers featured 4.0��� in Ord, 2.5��� in Arcadia, 2.5��� six miles north-northwest of Oxford and 1.5��� at Holdrege. In addition, a social media report yielded 3.0��� four miles south of Odessa. While actual amounts were not overly-significant in most places, the briefly-intense snowfall rates caused some issues, especially given that sustained north-northwest wind averaged 20-25 MPH while gusting up to around 40 MPH. ||Prior to colder air building down from the north and changing precipitation over to snow on the 15th, most of the afternoon and evening of Sunday the 14th featured scattered showers and even a few rare December thunderstorms within South Central Nebraska. Some places also experienced a fairly brief period of freezing rain and/or sleet during the overnight transition from rain to snow. In the ���big picture��� of the mid and upper levels, this event was driven by a powerful, nearly vertically-stacked, closed low pressure system that tracked from southwest-to-northeast across Kansas over the course of the night. Given that South Central Nebraska remained north and eventually northwest of the surface low this entire time, increasingly-strong north-northwest wind ushered increasingly-colder air into the area. As often occurs to the northwest of a well-organized low pressure system, the primary north-south oriented snow band focused within an area of enhanced low to mid level frontogenesis/deformation.

Starting during the early morning hours on this Sunday and continuing well into the evening in eastern counties, a pronounced collision of spring and winter fueled a gamut of weather across South Central Nebraska. This included strong to marginally severe thunderstorms mainly in the southeast half of the 24-county area, near-blizzard conditions and several inches of wet, heavy snow mainly in the northwest half of the area, and also several hours of sustained north winds generally 30-35 MPH commonly gusting 40-50+ MPH. By far the biggest story of the day was the worse-than-expected combination of moderate to heavy snow and strong wind. Although travel became treacherous in several counties, a few of the most newsworthy issues included the closure of Interstate 80 between Kearney and Elm Creek and the opening of a warming shelter for stranded motorists in Holdrege. As for storm-total snowfall, the highest concentration of 3-6 amounts (and locally higher) occurred within a southwest-to northeast band centered roughly 15 miles either side of a line from near Beaver City-Holdrege-Ravenna-Wolbach. Within this hardest-hit zone, a few of the highest snow totals from NWS cooperative observers and NeRAIN observers featured 7.5 three miles west of Elba, 7.0 seven miles south of Litchfield and also four miles east-southeast of Sumner, 6.7 at Wolbach and 6.1 at St. Paul. Outside this primary snow band, including most locations south and southeast of a line from Franklin-Grand Island-York, accumulations averaged no more than 1-2. However, even these areas endured at least a brief bout of very poor visibilities in wind-blown snow. As for the timing of snow, it was a typical west-to-east transition from rain to snow with a brief period of sleet in between. The aforementioned, significant snow band that targeted western and northern counties produced most of its impacts between 11 AM-3 PM CDT, remaining quasi-stationary for several hours within a focused mid-level deformation zone. During the later afternoon and early evening hours, the band became much more progressive as it marched eastward through the remainder of South Central Nebraska, eventually exiting the eastern fringes of the local area between 8-10 PM CDT. ||Before the wintry aspect of this system took center stage, convection was the initial focus of the day as primarily the southeast half of the 24-county area saw fairly widespread coverage of thunderstorms for the first time in 2014. Strong storms began flaring up mainly south of Interstate 80 between 6-8 AM CDT, with one storm producing hail up to quarter size in far eastern Fillmore County. Although no additional storms met severe-criteria, several produced copious amounts of small hail, resulting in a report of slick roadways in parts of Franklin County. Although the existing gradient wind across the area was already quite strong, the presence of thunderstorm outflow likely further-enhanced gusts, resulting in peak speeds to around 60 MPH as measured at the Kearney airport. Thunderstorm-enhanced winds likely also contributed to the destruction of a building under construction in eastern Franklin County. As increasingly-colder air surged across the area from west-to-east during the late morning and early afternoon hours, thunderstorms all but ended within the area by 2 PM CDT. ||As earlier mentioned, this snow event ended up being much more impactful than anticipated, in part because most computer forecast models failed to predict the intense banding and also underestimated the speed and magnitude of cold air surging into the area. Furthermore, the heavy snowfall rates overwhelmed any melting influences from antecedent warm ground conditions. As testament to the stark weather changes associated with this system, afternoon high temperatures on the preceding afternoon of the 12th ranged from 76-80 F across most of South Central Nebraska. By daybreak on the 13th, the powerful cold front had pushed well south of the area along an axis from southwest Kansas to southern Iowa, with temperatures across most of the local area already well down into the 40s F. By early afternoon when snow was well-underway, temperatures across the majority of South Central Nebraska had plunged to 30-35 F, promoting wind chill values generally 15-20 F. In the mid-upper levels, a longwave trough dominated much of the central United States and Nebraska resided under a favorable coupled upper jet regime within the exit region of a southern stream branch sliding across the Southern Plains and the entrance region of a northern stream jet centered from the eastern Dakotas into Canada. A bit lower in the troposphere, a pronounced zone of frontogenesis/deformation focused across the heart of South Central Nebraska along the path of a 700 millibar low pressure center and to the northwest of a closed 850 millibar low that tracked from southwest Kansas to southern Iowa. On a positive note, the combination of rain and snow brought much-needed liquid precipitation totals of 0.40-0.80 to the majority of the area, with amounts in excess of 1 common in the corridor of heaviest snow, highlighted by 1.98 at Holdrege. As is typical of April snow, it did not stick around long as high temperatures two days later bounced back into the 60s.

This Monday, also Memorial Day, was one of the more widespread severe weather events of spring 2013 over South Central Nebraska. The first storms developed over Phelps and Harlan counties around 4:30 pm CDT, and they formed as a short line segment of supercells that exhibited multicell characteristics. Several cell splits occurred during the following two hours, each of which headed north of Interstate 80 and then weakened. The storms that comprised the original line segment continued to advance eastward, remaining south of Interstate 80. After about 7 pm CDT, they transitioned to a dominant multicell mode in the form of a large cluster. The initial storms produced the most hail, including the strongest of the left split supercells of this event, which produced hail as far north as Buffalo county. The largest hail reported was the size of golf balls. As the thunderstorm mode transitioned to multicellular, damaging winds became the primary severe weather threat. Several locations, from Kearney county east to Fillmore county, measured winds in excess of 70 mph. The highest wind measured was 78 mph near Davenport. However, damage surveys suggested winds were as high as 90 mph. Trees and power lines were knocked down, several grain bins were damaged or destroyed and irrigation pivots were overturned. An EF-2 tornado was confirmed in southern Clay County, affecting the town of Edgar. This non-supercellular tornado formed at the leading edge of the line, just after a strong surge of downdraft winds within the line.||With the 8 am CDT Severe Weather Outlook, the Storm Prediction Center upgraded South Central Nebraska, south of Highway 6, to a moderate risk for severe thunderstorms. A weak short-wave trough was approaching the region, embedded within a broad upper-level trough, over the western United States. A quasi-stationary front, oriented in an east-west fashion, extended across Nebraska. During the early morning hours, a mesoscale convective system tracked through eastern Nebraska southeastward into Missouri. This MCS laid down an outflow boundary that extended across northern Kansas, to a lee-side low. It was to the north of this outflow boundary that storms initiated. At the time of initial thunderstorm development, temperatures were in the lower to middle 80s south of the front, with dewpoints in the middle 60s. This resulted in a moderately unstable atmosphere, with MLCAPE between 2000 and 3000 J/kg. Deep layer shear was 40 to 50 knots, which was more that strong enough for supercell storm structures.

Less than 48 hours after a line of damaging winds marched across much of South Central Nebraska, another widespread round of severe weather targeted primarily the southwest quadrant of the area on this Wednesday, mainly south of Interstate 80 and west of state Highway 10 in the vicinity of a surface warm front. Duration-wise, this was one of the most prolific severe weather events of the 2011 season, with convective warnings in effect for parts of the area for over 9 straight hours from around 4 PM to 130 AM CDT. Storm report highlights included numerous instances of large hail from quarter to baseball size, an estimated wind gust to 80 MPH, and a brief EF0 tornado west of Lexington. Many areas also measured 1-2 inches of rain in a short time, with one storm sending a few inches of water running through an Elm Creek grocery store.||This event essentially consisted of multiple, splitting supercell storms developing and tracking over the same areas. The first supercells developed just west and southwest of the area around 4 PM CDT and soon pushed into Dawson and Furnas Counties. These and other storms pounded the area for a few hours into the early evening, featuring the brief tornado near Lexington, and baseball size hail near Cozad. Following a brief lull in areal coverage of severe storms, considerable redevelopment took place between 8 PM and 10 PM CDT, with these storms also remaining severe as they evolved over the next few hours. Although most activity weakened or moved out of the area by midnight, one last supercell dropped golf ball size hail in northern Buffalo County shortly before 1 AM CDT. ||Although the mesoscale environment was supportive of severe weather, the long-lasting nature of this event was somewhat unexpected given a lack of large-scale forcing. The mid-levels featured only subtle, weak shortwave energy, well downstream from a powerful trough centered along the Pacific Northwest coast. However, deep-layer vertical wind shear around 40 knots, in combination with high mixed-layer CAPE values of 2500-4000 J/kg at the onset of the event made for a very conducive supercell environment. The primary instigator for multiple rounds of supercells was a persistent southerly low-level jet impinging over the north side of an effective surface warm front stretched from southwest Nebraska to east central Kansas. Winds along the nose of this jet at the 850-millibar level accelerated to 50 knots during the evening. This created very strong low-level wind shear and a mesoscale environment quite favorable for tornadoes. A review of radar data suggests that multiple storm-scale interactions, along with the outflow-dominant nature of some supercells likely spared South Central Nebraska from a more significant tornado threat.

The same powerful, vertically stacked low pressure system that brought strong thunderstorms to far South Central Nebraska on Thursday the 14th continued to impact the region into Friday the 15th, featuring very strong northwest winds, seasonably cold temperatures, and even a few inches of snow for locations mainly north of Interstate 80. The strong winds were driven by a tight surface pressure gradient on the backside of the departing low. At noon, the surface low center was near Kansas City at a strength of 996 millibars, while across west central Nebraska surface pressures were analyzed at around 1016 millibars, resulting in a roughly 20-millibar gradient across the region. In between, all of South Central Nebraska experienced strong northwest winds through the day and into the evening hours, with frequent sustained speeds to around 40 MPH or higher, and occasional gusts of 50-55 MPH. A few of the top measured gusts at automated airport sites included 56 MPH at Lexington and 54 MPH at Hastings. These winds made for a very raw mid-April day, when combined with passing rain or snow showers, and afternoon temperatures only topping out in the mid-30s to low-40s.

A couple of rounds of thunderstorms impacted south central Nebraska on this day. The first was in the morning hours. A severe thunderstorm rolled east across the Wolbach area. High winds dropped power lines and large trees in town. The storm ripped right across Nance County where 60 mph winds were common, as was tree damage and power line damage along with some minor property damage. Another round of high winds hit the area late in the day, this time from west of Holdrege through Hastings. Once again, 60 mph winds were common with trees and power lines damaged. The U.S. Highway 6 and 34 corridor west of Hastings was hardest hit. Elsewhere, up to 6 inches of rain pounded Polk County. The Davis Creek, Prairie Creek and Big Blue River were all in flood for a time. Damage to county roads was common place.

A strong upper level low pressure system intensified over the Central Plains during the day Sunday, November 27. After raining much of the day, cold air and strong winds quickly changed the rain to snow in the early evening. The winds increased rapidly, and by late evening, were gusting over 50 mph. The fierce winds continued all night and throughout the day Monday, November 28th. Winds gusted to 70 mph at times and caused "white out" conditions in snow and wind. Hundreds of holiday travelers were stranded in shelters set up at schools, churches, homes and motels in south central Nebraska. A 220 mile stretch of interstate 80 was closed for almost two days due to the zero visibility. Dozens of other highways were closed as well. Two cross country lines of rail traffic was halted due to huge snow drifts and the dangerous conditions. At one point, 175 trains were stopped on both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern lines. Power was out for a time for over 5,000 customers of various public power districts. In some cases, rural customers lost power for over 45 hours. Though not all in south central Nebraska, the Nebraska Public Power District estimated their losses alone at over 1 million dollars. In Phelps County, over 60 irrigation pivots were severely damaged by the high winds. Ranchers reported hundreds of cattle lost and unaccounted for once the storm had cleared. Nearly every school was closed for at least two days during the week, with a few closed four days. Actual snowfall over the area ranged from 3 to 8 inches. The heaviest amounts fell across Dawson, Gosper and Phelps counties, where 7 to 8 inches was common. The 50 to 70 mph winds whipped the snow into drifts 15 to 20 feet tall in places. During the event, the reported visibilities were reported to be less then 10 feet on average. Despite the brutal blizzard, only a few traffic accidents were reported and no injuries occurred. On a lighter "note", a concert by the Dallas Brass Quintet was canceled in Holdrege. However, the quintet did perform at the Super 8 motel in town for about 40 stranded travelers. The quintet played various holiday songs and received a standing ovation for their efforts.

An especially severe thunderstorm ripped apart crops and damaged a power plant in Dawson and Gosper counties. The storm packed winds of 70 mph and golf ball size hail. The storms most destructive path stretched from southwest of Cozad to 5 miles east of Johnson Lake. Approximately 22,000 acres of corn and soybeans in Dawson County sustained a 90 percent loss. The local Extension Agent stated "In the heart of it, the crop was pounded to nothing." An estimated 140 different fields sustained some damage. At Camp Comeca south of Cozad, several cabins and buildings sustained window, siding and shingle damage. Numerous trees were topped. The Canaday Steam Plant was hit hard as nearly $200,000 in siding was ripped from the building. There were several reports of center pivot, grain bin, farmstead and vehicle damage along the storms path.

One of the worst severe weather outbreaks in recent years struck south-central Nebraska the afternoon and evening of May 22. No less than 17 different tornadoes rolled across south-central Nebraska. Dozens of homes were damaged and a few completely destroyed. Over 250 center irrigation pivots were damaged or destroyed in south-central Nebraska alone. Large hail and strong straight-line winds of up to 80 mph also wreaked havoc on the region. Several million dollars in property damage was reported. Hundreds of power poles were snapped resulting in dozens of miles of downed electrical line.

Isolated thunderstorms produced strong downburst winds in parts of the area. On the east side of Hastings, an estimated 80 mph wind destroyed three buildings, ripped the roof from a horse barn, tore another roof from a local radio station and fell numerous trees in the area. An empty grain bin at one of the ethanol plants was destroyed. In Furnas county at Hendley, another 70+ mph wind damaged six houses with lost shingles and blown out windows, and significantly damaged a steel structure at the local elevator. Yet one more storm passed north of Kearney and snapped 4 power poles.

After weeks of little or no rain, thunderstorms unleashed a torrent of rain, hail and high winds across much of south-central Nebraska. The thunderstorms developed west and north of Kearney and moved east and southeast throughout the evening.Early in the evening, severe thunderstorms pummeled the Johnson Lake area of northern Gosper county. Winds of 75 mph tore apart trees and downed power lines. Hail teamed with the wind to break several windows of homes around the lake. The storms pushed east into western Phelps county producing a brief tornado that was sighted in the northwest part of the county. No damage was reported. Over 5 inches of rain fell in western Phelps county along with walnut sized hail. There was considerable damage to both corn and bean crops.At nearly the same time, thunderstorms raged across Valley county. Near total devastation of the corn and bean crops was reported west of Ord. Baseball sized hail fell in the Ord area itself. Agricultural losses in the Ord area alone totaled over 5 million dollars. Roof and siding damage was reported in Ord along with damage to several vehicles due to the large hail. A tornado was spotted northeast of Arcadia. No damage was known to have occurred from this brief tornado.As the evening wore on, a large supercell thunderstorm moved east along U.S. Highways 6 and 34 from east of Holdrege to the Hastings area. Blinding rain, hail and some funnel clouds were spawned from this storm. In Kearney and Adams counties, 3 to 5 inches of rain fell in about one hour near Heartwell and Kenesaw. Several county roads were washed out or were impassable due to flooding. Water was flowing over U.S. Highways 6 and 34 for a time. Again, the corn and soybean crops sustained considerable damage. A grain bin was damaged in the Holstein area and several tree limbs fell in the strong wind. In northern Franklin county, hail and wind damaged 60,000 acres of crops. Producers in the county were expected to lose at least 4 million dollars from this storm.