Power Outage in North Platte, NE

Tree limbs have downed multiple power lines across North Platte. A power pole was downed just outside town. A power transformer was also on fire.

Lightning struck a transformer on the west side of North Platte leading to a power outage on the west side of town.

An NWS employee reported 60 mph winds and a power outage south of North Platte.

Power poles snapped.

NWS employee reports large tree branches, some 6 to 8 in diameter, downed across the southwest part of North Platte. One large tree was split in half. Live power lines were downed.

Public reports power lines down and power out across North Platte.

Lightning struck a house blowing a chimney stack apart, knocked off drywall inside and tore up the north corner of the house. Power was knocked out. The exact extent of damage to the electrical system was unknown as the electrical meter was blown out of its socket.

Numerous large tree limbs down with a power outage near the Platte River Mall.

Storm damage survey observed damage to homes, business and schools as numerous trees were uprooted, large tree limbs snapped or broken. The downed trees brought down numerous power lines that caused power outages between Buffalo Bill to Poplar streets. The Nebraska State Patrol closed Interstate 80 temporarily as several semi-trucks were over turned or had gone into the ditch from the strong winds.

Three metal buildings were destroyed northwest of North Platte, the largest of which was 70 by 90 feet. Power lines reported down on Suburban road along with numerous large trees down. A house sustained major damage to siding and shingles on the north side of the structure.

A tornado touched down 10 miles southwest of North Platte and traveled north and destroyed a large metal transmission tower. Two homes were damaged, several outbuildings and garages were damaged or destroyed. Two center pivot irrigation systems were overturned with one wood transmission tower destroyed and extensive power line damage along the path in addition to tree damage. The tornado dissipated while moving north of Walker road.

Power out in parts of Sutherland from high winds. A Nebraska department of roads equipment measured a 60 mph wind gust with 48 mph sustained wind.

High winds caused power outages across southern parts of North Platte, including Indian Hills subdivision.

Power out on Rodeo Road and areas north of railroad tracks due to high winds.

Blizzard conditions began across Lincoln County by 3 pm CST on April 4, 2009. Snowfall amounts ranged from 2 to 6 inches. Strong north winds of 30 to 50 mph caused significant blowing snow and drifting with reduced visibility to below a quarter mile during the late afternoon and evening hours. Power outages occurred and roads were closed across portions of the county. Interstate 80 was closed from Saturday afternoon until Sunday.

Ice accumulations of a quarter to half inch caused numerous broken tree branches. Ice accumulations snapped power lines and broke some power poles causing power outages of up to 40 hours...mainly in rural Lincoln County. Snowfall amounts of 6 to 8 inches followed.

Strong thunderstorm winds up to 52 knots uprooted numerous trees, blew down fences, brought down large tree limbs and power lines. Several outbuilding were also overturned and a large trampoline was lifted 20 feet into the air and wrapped around a tree.

Large trees were uprooted and power lines were knocked down. An open pole barn used for storage at a lumber yard on the east side of North Platte was blown over.

Power lines were down in northwest corner of the city.

A powerful storm system caused high winds across north central and southwest Nebraska. Northwest winds were frequently sustained at 30 to 40 mph with gusts to around 60 mph at times. The high winds began during the evening hours on December 22nd, and continued during the overnight hours into the afternoon hours on December 23rd.

A powerful storm system produced highs winds of 30 to 40 mph with gust of 60 to around 70 mph across southwest into central Nebraska. The strongest wind gusts occurred during the daytime hours into the early evening hours.

A powerful storms system produced high winds across portions of southwest, central and north central Nebraska during the afternoon and evening hours on November 30th. Northwest winds ranged as high as 35 to 45 mph with a few gusts around 65 mph recorded.

A powerful storm system produced winter storm conditions across most of western and north central Nebraska. Snowfall amounts ranged from 4 inches to 8 inches across much of the area, with some areas receiving as much as 10 to 16 inches. Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with higher gusts, caused blowing and drifting snow and low visibility. Snow drifts up to 2 to 3 feet were reported in some areas. Some area roads including Interstate 80 and highway 30 became closed during the event.

A powerful storm system tracked across western and north central Nebraska on March 13th and 14th. High winds occurred across southwest, central and north central Nebraska. Northwest winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 77 mph were observed. The highest winds began during the evening hours on March 13th and continued through the morning hours on March 14th.

Supercells developed in the southern Sandhills and moved south toward the Interstate 80 corridor. Strong winds downed trees and knocked out power in parts of Lincoln County.

Thunderstorms developed along a stationary front across western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado during the late afternoon hours on July 18th. As this activity moved east it became severe across the western Nebraska Sandhills and southwestern Nebraska. Damaging winds impacted crops and power lines.

Severe thunderstorms developed on June 3rd, during the early morning hours in north central Nebraska, and produced some large hail. During the late morning and early afternoon hours, severe thunderstorms developed and moved into eastern portion of north central Nebraska. Significant wind damage occurred in portions of Rock and western Holt County destroying some grain bins, overturning center pivots and causing downed power lines. Thunderstorms re-intensified by mid afternoon north of a warm front draped west to east across western and north central Nebraska. Numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds occurred, which lasted through mid evening.

Severe thunderstorms developed on Thursday afternoon along a warm front across northern Nebraska. Numerous reports of large hail were noted, with the largest up to the size of baseballs. Damaging winds, funnel clouds and heavy rainfall were also reported during this severe weather event. The preliminary local storm damage survey information, estimated the highest winds speeds in North Platte were near 100 miles an hour - where numerous large trees and large limbs were downed. This also led to some power outages and damage to vehicles and homes. Large hail caused broken windows, from north of Whitman to southeast of the Bartlett area. No tornadoes were confirmed, although funnel clouds were reported with supercell thunderstorms near Mullen, Arnold, and in southwestern Custer County. Extensive crop damage was found in southwestern Custer County where acres of corn and bean crops were damaged or destroyed from hail estimated up to the size of golfballs.

A warm front lifted north across southwest Nebraska and was the focus for thunderstorms to develop, intensify and produce large hail and damaging winds. Frontier County was hit the hardest by damaging winds estimated up to 80 mph as a thunderstorm bowed out. The high winds produced damage at 12 farmsteads. The most extensive damage occurred just north of County Road 741, where two large buildings and nine silos were destroyed. The wind damage included over 60 center pivot irrigation systems, livestock killed, large tree limbs down and approximately 40 power poles snapped. The McCook Public Power District reported 173 consumers lost power during the storm.

January 11, 2013 a powerful upper level low pressure system moved through the Plains and brought winter weather conditions to western and north central Nebraska. Snow and blowing snow was forecasted for the eastern Panhandle and the western Sandhills of Nebraska. Further southeast, to include Lee Bird Field (LBF) in Lincoln County, areas of patchy freezing drizzle or light freezing would give way to snow before the threat for freezing precipitation would end around midnight. A plane that took off from the North Platte Regional Airport at 1553 CST crashed about 11 miles northeast of the airport, in the Maxwell area. The aircraft crashed resulting in four fatalities (indirect).

Severe drought conditions (D2) continued from late June into early July. The combination of intense heat and a lack of rainfall, allowed extreme (D3) to expand to across all counties. Further, in eastern Custer County the prolong lack of rain resulted in exceptional (D4) drought conditions to develop by the end of the month. Official observation platforms recorded their driest July period on record as rainfall deficits increased to below 2 to 3 inches in most areas north of Interstate 80. ||Nebraska's power grid took hits as well from the extremely hot temperatures and dry weather. The need for power was so great Custer Public Power District was forced into rolling blackouts for the Nebraska Sandhills on the 18th, when emergency relief was implemented as irrigation demands rose. ||By the 23rd, the Nebraska Governor declared a state of emergency in all 93 Nebraska counties, and ordered the department of roads to allow roadside haying for the remainder of the summer. ||Crop conditions across Nebraska deteriorated significantly by the end of the month. According to the USDA, 37 percent of the total corn crop, 38 percent of the soybean crop and 83 percent of pastureland was rated either very poor or poor. Irrigated corn rated 55 percent good to excellent, while dry land corn rated 5 percent good to excellent. Many livestock producers have begun to haul water to cattle, while deteriorating pasture conditions have forced producers to sell their herds early.||The abnormally dry conditions led to numerous range fires started by lightning. Two major fires occurred during the month. One in Thomas County which burned approximately 1000 acres, and the Region 24 Wildfire that included Keya Paha, Brown, and Cherry counties, where approximately 76,000 acres burned. ||Extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4) drought conditions continued into August.

During the afternoon hours on August 7th, a thunderstorm developed over southwest Nebraska, which produced half dollar size hail and 60 m.p.h. winds across portions of Keith and Lincoln counties. In the evening, storms that had originated over southern South Dakota moved into northern Nebraska and produced hail up to baseball size and widespread winds of 60 m.p.h. to 80 m.p.h.. These severe winds lasted up to an hour in some locations. Numerous power outages were reported including the communities of Newport (Rock County), Springview (Keya Paha County), Long Pine (Brown County), and Bassett (Rock County).

A frontal boundary along with a surface trough helped spark off storms that left wind damage across portions of western and north central Nebraska. The strongest wind recorded was estimated at 80 mph in Arthur County, where power lines were knocked down and caused a prairie fire. Small hail did occur with some storms up to the size of nickels.

Strong winds from a dissipating thunderstorm snapped 3 power poles in southwest Lincoln County.

A powerful spring storm system tracked northeast from southern Colorado into north central Kansas and eastern Nebraska on April 4th and 5th, 2009. Widespread snow occurred as north winds increased to 30 to 40 mph with gusts over 50 mph at times. Blizzard conditions developed by early afternoon on April 4th and persisted into the early morning hours on April 5th. Snowfall amounts ranged from 6 to 18 inches across north central Nebraska with snowdrifts ranging from 3 to 7 feet. Snowfall of 3 to 6 inches occurred to the south across west central and southwest Nebraska with blizzard conditions. Road closures and power outages were reported in many areas.

A powerful winter storm moved out of the southern rockies and into western and north central Nebraska on Friday, December 29th. Due to abundant moisture drawn in from the Gulf of Mexico, significant snow accumulations occurred. Some freezing rain occurred prior to a changeover to snow across portions of Boyd, Holt, Garfield, Wheeler, Frontier, and Custer counties where ice accumulations up to a quarter inch were observed. This caused some downed power lines and broken tree branches. Snow began to fall across western Nebraska during the early morning hours Friday and spread into eastern portions of north central Nebraska by late Friday morning. The snow continued Friday night before diminishing during the morning Saturday, December 30th. Snow accumulations of 6 to 13 inches combined with winds of 15 to 30 mph causing blowing and drifting snow.

A powerful winter storm moved out of the southern rockies and moved slowly across Nebraska. Due to the slow movement of the system, significant accumulations of freezing rain, sleet and snow occurred. Along and east of Highway 83, freezing rain began during the evening of December 19th, spreading northeastward and continuing throughout much of the day December 20th. Ice accumulated from one quarter to one half inch causing downed power lines and numerous broken tree branches. Some residents lost power for up to 40 hours. Snow followed the freezing rain with accumulations ranging from 3 to 8 inches. Areas to the west of Highway 83 experienced blizzard conditions with heavy snowfall of 6 to 11 inches and wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph.

An intense low pressure system that caused blizzard conditions in western South Dakota brought high winds to western and north central Nebraska. The winds were sustained from 40 to 45 mph with most gusts around 60 mph. An automated weather observing system near Rushville in northwest Sheridan County reported a gust to 84 mph. The winds overturned a vacated mobile home in Rushville in northwest Sheridan County, uprooted and broke off trees, destroyed small sheds, downed power lines, peeled back roofing on a building at a lumberyard in Hyannis in Grant County, and removed shingles from numerous buildings. The intense winds spread southward through the morning hours and overturned a Fed-Ex semi-truck on Highway 97 about 5 miles southeast of Tryon in McPherson County and another semi-truck on Interstate 80 near Maxwell in Lincoln County. The drivers of the semi-truck received only minor injuries. Visibilities were reduced to 1 mile or less at times in blowing dust and sand.

A very strong cold front moved through the area causing sustained northwest winds of 35 to 45 mph and gusts to 55 to 60 mph across north central and western Nebraska. The strong winds blew down a high voltage power line causing a power outage in Wauneta in eastern Chase County.

A very strong low pressure system moved out of Colorado the Sunday after Thanksgiving and intensified as it moved northeast across the Western and Northern Plains hampering travel on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Very warm air wrapped up into the system ahead of the storm causing freezing rain to develop across portions of Boyd, Holt, Rock, Loup, Garfield, Wheeler, and northeast Custer Counties Sunday afternoon, November 27th, while snow fell across the remainder of the area. By Sunday night, the freezing rain switched over to snow as cold air plunged into western and north central Nebraska. Winds increased significantly Sunday night into Monday morning with zero visibility in snow and blowing snow as northwest winds gusted between 55 and 75 mph. Automated wind observing equipment on wind turbines that sit approximately 232 feet above the ground 5 miles south of Ainsworth recorded wind gusts of 114 mph. Snow accumulations of 8 to 15 inches fell across Boyd, Holt, Keya Paha, Rock, Brown, Blaine, Loup, Garfield, Wheeler, Custer, Logan, and northeast Lincoln Counties creating drifts of 8 to 15 feet high in many locations. Snow accumulations of 3 to 8 inches occurred across the rest of the area. Interstate 80 and most secondary roads in the area were closed for 30 to 38 hours. Damage included trees falling on homes and power lines, hundreds of broken power poles and lines, 200-300 center pivot irrigation systems overturned, large motel and highway signs destroyed, windows broken, metal siding on a business ripped away, 50-100 head of cattle died, and a gas station canopy destroyed. As power poles broke, electricity went out. The areas where freezing rain caused ice to accumulate on lines and poles before the extreme winds hit saw power outages of 2 to 10 days. Many travelers were stranded in their vehicles for 12 hours or more after getting stuck in deep snow. Thousands of other travelers spent time in temporary shelters waiting out the storm. There was one indirect death and several indirect injuries due to car accidents, including 2 roll-overs. Areas to the west of this also saw wind gusts of 55 to 75 mph but visibilities remained above 1 mile as snow accumulations were only from a trace to 3 inches.

A powerful low pressure system pushed out of northeastern Colorado and moved along the Nebraska and Kansas border. Abundant moisture combined with cold air filtering in from the north to produce snow accumulations of 5 to 11 inches. Winds of 15 to 25 mph created blowing and drifting snow with visibilities of 1 mile or less for many hours.

A powerful cold front moved through North Central Nebraska. Strong northerly winds moved into the area behind the front with winds gusting to 52kts