Power Outage in Lexington, NE

Measured wind gusts through the county included 82 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located one mile southwest of Eddyville, and 66 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located five miles north-northeast of Lexington. Damage in the Lexington area included tree limbs down, trees uprooted, some fencing damage, and damage to power poles.

Emergency management estimated wind gusts to be at least 70 MPH, a mesonet station located 1 mile north-northeast of Cozad measured a peak gust of 75 MPH at 1:18 AM CDT. Damage in and near Cozad was reported, including roof, outbuilding, tree and crop damage. The town square gazebo was pushed over to a 45 degree angle. Power outages were also reported in the area.

Based on surrounding area observations, sustained speeds of at least 40 MPH and isolated gusts close to 65 MPH likely occurred. These gusty winds were blamed for a fire that occurred at a winery just north of Lexington. The fire started just after 11 PM, when power lines were whipped around, causing a spark. The winery's storage building was destroyed, and fire fighters were on scene for several hours.

An 81 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 1 mile north-northeast of Cozad. Emergency management reported tree damage and downed power lines in the area, along with overturned pivots. One of the more notable damage scenes involved Cozad High School, where a large portion of the roof was ripped off of the library, allowing rain water to pour in. This damaged thousands of books, along with shelving and some electronics. Nearby, a metal storage building was destroyed, parts of it lofted into a nearby home and piercing a hole in its roof.

This tornado was witnessed by many as it formed on the east side of Cozad, where some tree damage and power poles were broken. The nearly 10-mile path weaved to the northeast across a rural landscape. One-half of a large farm machinery shed was complete destroyed and several irrigation pivots were upset, helping delineate the path. Grain bins were destroyed and tree damage was sporadic along the path. The tornado was reported to be rain-wrapped at times. The path become indiscernible as the tornado moved into the hills north of Cozad and the road network became more sparse. The estimated maximum wind speed was 100 MPH.

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in tree damage in the area, with some limbs upwards of 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Power outages were reported in Lexington.

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH. Reports from the area included damage to an irrigation well engine shed and a power pole knocked down approximately 1 mile east of Lexington and one mile north of Interstate 80. A large cottonwood tree was also knocked down east of Lexington.

Sustained wind speeds of 40 to 48 mph occurred continuously between 1055 am CST and 1255 pm CST at the Lexington airport. Also of note, wind speeds of greater than 40 mph occurred at least periodically from 915 am CST to 1555 pm CST. A peak wind gust of 60 mph occurred at the Lexington Airport at 1135 CST. Also, a peak wind gust of 64 mph occurred at a mesonet site in Gothenburg, a 61 mph peak wind gust occured at a mesonet site three miles southeast of Overton, and a 58 mph peak wind gust occurred at a mesonet site nine miles north northwest of Lexington at 1235 CST. The exact time of peak wind gusts is unavailable from the mesonet sites. Also, a trailer home in Cozad had half of its roof torn off from non-thunderstorm gradient wind. A power pole in town was also damaged, and power lines were down west of town.

Wind gusts up to 90 MPH caused tree damage, knocked down power lines and overturned pivots in the area. On the north side of Lexington, a fence at a ballfield was damaged.

The main impact noted across town was tree damage with many large branches broken and a few trees uprooted. The most significant damage occurred at an apartment complex where several windows on the west side of the buildings were blown out. In addition, the roof to one of the buildings was uplifted and a small part of the roof covering was lost. The ceiling in one of the apartments on the top floor partially collapsed. A small utility shed was also destroyed, several wooden fences were blown down, two power poles in town were broken, and a large unattached garage had the door blown in and the north wall collapsed.

The main impact noted across town was tree damage with many large branches broken and a few trees uprooted. The most significant damage occurred at an apartment complex where several windows on the west side of the buildings were blown out. In addition, the roof to one of the buildings was uplifted and a small part of the roof covering was lost. The ceiling in one of the apartments on the top floor partially collapsed. A small utility shed was also destroyed, several wooden fences were blown down, two power poles in town were broken, and a large unattached garage had the door blown in and the north wall collapsed.

Line of strong to severe thunderstorms brings isolated large hail and damaging winds to portions of south central Nebraska during the late evening of May 29th. Overall, the primary severe weather focus on this date was focused further north, across north central and northeast Nebraska. However, a southwest to northeast oriented line of thunderstorms developed from Dawson County northeast to Valley and Greeley Counties between 11PM and midnight CDT and became marginally severe. Large hail nickel to quarter size was the primary threat, but isolated wind damage to a few power lines and poles in Valley County was also noted. After midnight, the line began to shift northeast and affect mainly areas of Valley, Sherman, and Greeley Counties. Severe thunderstorm warnings, and even a couple of tornado warnings prompted by low to mid level rotation on radar, continued until 1:30AM CDT on the 30th, but no additional severe reports were received.

The late evening of Sunday the 11th into the early morning of Monday the 12th featured a rather perplexing thunderstorm complex within South Central Nebraska, as what appeared to be a favorable setup for potentially widespread damaging winds ended up yielding only one localized (albeit significant) area of known damage. That one area was in and near Cozad in Dawson County, where an intense storm struck around midnight CDT, prompting an unofficial 81 MPH wind gust on a personal weather station. In addition to numerous downed tree limbs and power lines across town, some of the most notable damage occurred at Cozad High School, where a large portion of the library roof was ripped off. This allowed rain water to pour in, damaging thousands of books along with some shelving and electronics. Also in town, a metal storage building was destroyed, parts of it lofted into a nearby home and piercing a hole in its roof. However, despite what occurred in Cozad, the vast majority of South Central Nebraska only experienced sub-severe wind gusts in the 40-55 MPH range. The underachieving nature of this severe storm event was rather surprising (albeit fortunate), especially considering that 21 local counties were placed under a somewhat-rare Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Severe Thunderstorm Watch. ||Breaking down timing and storm evolution, the leading edges of what initially appeared to be an intense linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) with a bow echo radar signature entered southwestern local counties between 10:30 p.m. and midnight CDT. Over the next few hours, the main corridor of weaker-than-anticipated outflow winds traversed primarily counties south of Interstate 80 before exiting into southeast Nebraska around 2 a.m. CDT. Meanwhile, the isolated severe storm in Dawson County occurred north of the where the most intense winds would typically be expected, possibly tied to brief intensification associated with a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV). To be sure, the broad mesoscale environment appeared quite supportive of potentially-widespread severe storms, featuring 1000-3000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and around 40 knots of deep-layer wind shear. This high instability was fueled by a very humid airmass with surface dewpoints into the low-mid 70s F. In the bigger picture of the mid-upper levels, broad west-southwesterly flow was the story, as an embedded shortwave trough kicked off the initial storms of the afternoon and evening over the High Plains of Colorado/Wyoming/western Nebraska. At the surface, South Central Nebraska resided slightly north of a weak, west-east frontal zone centered across northern Kansas.

The vast majority of South Central Nebraska experienced very little (if any) notable weather on this Friday. However, there were a couple of significant exceptions, as heavy rains caused extensive flooding in parts of Valley County and a lone severe storm with damaging winds and large hail brushed far western portions of Dawson and Furnas counties. Going into more detail, and starting with the Valley County situation, a small-but-persistent cluster of heavy showers/non-severe storms dumped a roughly 5-10 mile wide swath of heavy rain on northwestern and south central portions of the county, mainly between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. CDT. These areas received a widespread 2-4 with isolated pockets as high as 5-7, including an unofficial public report of 6.25 nine miles west-southwest of Elyria. Within a few hours after the onset of heavy rain, several rural roads were flooded/washed out, and small creeks such as Turtle Creek spilled out of their banks. An NeRAIN observer southwest of Elyria commented that Turtle Creek flooding was worse than what occurred during the historic March 2019 floods. By the evening and overnight hours, flooding also ramped up on Mira Creek south of Ord, including a bridge washout on a paved county road. During the pre-dawn hours of the 3rd, Mira Creek flooding reached the town of North Loup, prompting mainly minor water issues on the north side of town. Turning to the severe storm aspect of the day (and completely separate from the Valley County flooding), an isolated severe storm tracked almost due south over the western fringes of Dawson and Furnas counties between 6:30-9:30 p.m. CDT, affecting the Gothenburg and Cambridge areas. Near Gothenburg, a mesonet clocked a 66 MPH gust and a flag pole was bent over. A bit later, trained spotters just west of Cambridge reported hail up to golf ball size and a measured wind gust of 71 MPH, with a few power poles downed on Highway 6/34.||In the big picture of the mid-upper levels, forcing was nebulous over the Central Plains as subtle waves passed through northwesterly flow, directed around the edge of an expansive ridge centered over New Mexico. Most notably for the Valley County flooding, precipitable water values averaged nearly 2, fostering impressive rainfall rates in low-topped cells. For the evening severe storm in Dawson/Furnas counties, mesoscale parameters featured around 1500 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and 35 knots of deep-layer wind shear. At the surface, a nondescript pattern existed over South Central Nebraska, with light southerly-to-easterly breezes and dewpoints in the upper 60s to around 70 F.

Some wind damage occurred in Lexington on this Tuesday afternoon. Early in the afternoon, scattered showers developed over northwest Kansas. They expanded into portions of south central Nebraska as the afternoon progressed, becoming a northeast-southwest oriented line. Some of the showers intensified into what appeared to be weak thunderstorms. The storm that produced the damage in Lexington was a small storm that formed over northern Gosper County around 3:45 p.m. CST, just ahead of the line. This storm crossed the border into Dawson County and produced the damage around 4:10 p.m. CST, not long after it formed. Some large tree limbs were snapped off, resulting in power outages. One tree was uprooted at Greenwood Cemetery.||South central Nebraska was in the warm sector of low pressure located along the Montana-North Dakota border. The circulation around this low had forced the lee-side trough eastward into central South Dakota, Nebraska, and western Kansas. These showers and storms formed along this trough. In the upper-levels, southwest flow was over the Central Plains, with a trough along the Pacific Northwest Coast and a ridge over the eastern United States. The band main of Westerlies was over the west. Winds aloft over the Central Plains were fairly weak. Just before the storm moved through, the temperature at the Lexington airport was in the middle 90s with dewpoints in the 50s. Despite steep mid-levels lapse rates, the deeply mixed boundary layer limited MLCAPE to just under 1000 J/kg. Deep layer shear was marginal, approaching 30 knots.

For the second evening in a row, parts of western Dawson County were pounded by an isolated severe thunderstorm. On this early Sunday evening, the outflow-dominant supercell rolled in from the west-northwest, evolving from a cluster of storms that had been working toward the area from West Central Nebraska for a few hours. This storm flourished in a synoptic environment featuring subtle mid level disturbances passing through a west-northwest flow aloft, around 2000 J/kg MLCAPE and around 40 knots of deep-layer vertical wind shear. As the supercell first entered the far northwest corner of Dawson County, a trained spotter's home weather station recorded a powerful 94 MPH wind gust. Although the intensity of winds diminished as the storm moved deeper into the county, hail up to quarter size was reported farther east toward the Lexington area.

A strengthening surface low pressure system over eastern Wyoming brought increasing winds to the area during the morning hours, which then continued to increase as the low shifted to the east. Once the sun came up, the impact of mixing down stronger winds aloft brought numerous wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph, with one report of a 59 mph reported by the AWOS in Lexington. These gusty winds knocked down tree branches into power lines, causing power outages, and one home also reported damage to a vehicle and boat.

A strong upper level low pressure system deepened across the desert southwest, eventually shifting northeast out of the southern Rocky Mountains and across the Central Plains. The track of this system brought it across south central Nebraska, with the heaviest band of snow associated with the deformation axis clipping far western areas. The most impact was felt across Dawson County, where snow rates up to 1 to 2 inches per hour allowed for snowfall accumulations ranging from 6 to 13 inches. Accumuations quickly dropped off east of Cozad, with 3 to 6 inches falling across eastern Dawson and western Gosper and Furnas Counties. Amounts of a trace to 3 inches were reported as far east as a line from Ord to Wilcox. This heavy snow did cause a brief power outage for approximately 1100 customers near Gothenburg, and lead to a few school closings and postponement of events.

Severe thunderstorms rumbled over south central Nebraska during the evening hours. The most intense storms were in Dawson County where 70 mph winds and golf ball size hail were reported. Storm chasers video taped a brief tornado on the southeast flank of the thunderstorm. The tornado occurred in a very rural area and no damage occurred. There were a few sporadic power outages in Phelps County as strong winds blew through the county. Minor street flooding was reported in Holdrege for a short time, and over 2 inches of rain fell in parts of western and southern Phelps County.

A vicious severe thunderstorm roared south across a part of south-central Nebraska during the late afternoon and evening. The damage path extended from Gothenburg to Beaver City and Stamford. Wind driven hail and torrential rain shredded crops, broke windows and caused considerable property damage. Agricultural losses were in the tens of millions of dollars. This storm was likely the worst this generation had experienced, and "old-timers" had to remember back to 1937 for a comparable storm. The severe thunderstorm complex started early in the afternoon in the Nebraska Sand Hills and dropped south rapidly. Widespread reports of 70 mph winds were received from western Dawson county. A brief tornado set down 3 miles northeast of Farnam. The tornado lifted a garage over a house and "sucked" all of the items from the walls in the house. Golf ball size hail ripped apart crops and pasture in southwest Dawson county to the tune of 11 million dollars in loss.The storm progressed south across Gosper county with 70 mph winds and 1 inch hail. Power poles were broke and considerable soil erosion was reported in the county. As the storm reached Furnas county around 6:30 pm, it intensified some and the result was extensive property damage throughout the county. At the Southern Valley school south of Oxford, repairs of one million dollars were needed to fix the roof of the school and other structures near the school. Water damage was reported in many parts of the school. Windows were broken on buses and vehicles near the school grounds. Many homes in Furnas county sustained considerable hail damage to the north side. Windows were broken and siding damaged. Buildings on farms throughout the county were lost. Crop loss to the wheat, corn, and soybean crop was estimated at 15 million dollars.Just to the east, Harlan county did not escape the wrath of the storm. Dime size hail and 70 mph winds pummeled the Stamford and Oxford areas. Again, property damage was widespread to homes, businesses, and outbuildings. Crop loss in the western part of the county was nearly 7.5 million dollars. Producers will feel the effects of the storm well into the winter with very few corn stalks in the field for cattle to feed upon nor hay to cut for winter feed.