Power Outage in Ord, NE

Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in damage to a few power lines and poles.

Wind gusts as high as 74 MPH were reported by the Ord Airport ASOS. There were several reports of tree damage and downed power lines in Ord.

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in tree branches 3-4 inches in diameter being downed. The town of Ord lost power.

A machine shed located 11 miles west and 1 mile north of Ord was destroyed. A number of power poles were knocked down from this area and extended to approximately 4 miles west of Ord. Irrigation pivots were overturned approximately 4 miles west of Ord. The start time was an estimate from radar data.

During the very early morning hours of Tuesday the 25th, mainly between 1:00-2:30 a.m. CDT, a fairly compact storm complex swept from west-to-east across far northern sections of South Central Nebraska, bringing damaging winds to portions of Valley and Greeley counties. Ord airport clocked a peak gust of 74 MPH, and in town there were reports of several damaged trees and a few downed power lines. A bit later and one county to the east, an NeRAIN observer in Spalding noted trees down around town. This small storm complex initiated over the far northern Nebraska Panhandle during the early evening, before steadily tracking east-southeast and eventually infiltrating the local area. This was a sneaky severe weather event, mainly given that radar signatures were not very suggestive of intense outflow winds, due in part to shallow storm cores (especially by June standards). In addition, instability was seemingly limited, with most-unstable CAPE only analyzed around 500 J/kg. However, other factors were more favorable for storm organization and sustenance, including steep mid-level lapse rates and the presence of a low amplitude disturbance embedded within fairly strong west-northwest flow aloft.

Thunderstorms that initiated across northern Nebraska during the evening hours on June 4th rapidly intensifed and became severe as they developed southeast into northern portions of South Central Nebraska during the post-midnight hours on the 5th. These storms formed north of a surface warm front draped near Interstate 80, along the nose of a strong low level jet, and mainly impacted locations north of Highway 92. Within an environment featuring 2000 to 3000 J/kg of MUCAPE and considerable deep layer shear of 50 to 60 knots, a few storms became powerful elevated supercells. One of these supercells was a prolific hail producer, with golf ball to baseball size reported in portions of Valley, Greeley and Howard Counties. A bit farther east, another severe storm brought damaging winds to the Shelby area in Polk County, with reports indicating uprooted trees, an overturned irrigation pivot, and considerable crop damage.

60 mph thunderstorm winds in Nance county were partly responsible for sporadic power loss in the county for a time.