Power Outage in Red Cloud, NE

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in some downed power lines in Red Cloud.

Freezing rain and freezing drizzle resulted in a coating of ice at least one-quarter inch thick. Travel was hazardous, and numerous tree limbs were downed. Power lines were also affected, causing power outages.

Wind gusts were estimated to be at least 70 MPH. West of Red Cloud, hay bales were pushed onto a nearby county road. Several large trees were damaged or uprooted in Red Cloud. A tin roof was also damaged, and a few power poles on the north side of town were damaged, resulting in a loss of power.

Wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH just north of Red Cloud, where the power went out from the strong wind gusts.

Wind gusts were estimated between 55 and 60 MPH, causing the town of Red Cloud to lose power.

Damaging winds occurred from a downburst in parts of Webster county on this Friday, along with low-end severe hail. During the afternoon, scattered showers and thunderstorms were persistent along Highway 136, in south central Nebraska. Just after 400 PM CST, a thunderstorm over eastern Franklin county moved into Webster county, intensified, and became severe as it crossed the southern half of the county. Severe winds blew round bails of hay onto a county road west of Red Cloud. Round bails weigh a minimum of 500 pounds and, depending on density and moisture content, can way 1000 pounds or more. As the storm moved through Red Cloud, it blew down several large trees and damaged power poles which resulted in power outages. Hail up to one inch in diameter and minor street flooding were also reported.||A very slow-moving cold front was sagging across south central Nebraska, and it was near the Kansas state line around the time of this thunderstorm. In the upper-levels, weak west-southwest flow was over the northern U.S., with a low-amplitude ridge from Denver to Omaha. Just prior to this thunderstorm, temperatures were around 80, with dewpoints around 70. With the mid-level lapse rate between 7.0 and 7.5 deg C/km, MLCAPE was between 1000 and 2000 J/kg. This storm occurred within the instability gradient on southwest fringe of rain-cooled outflow from thunderstorms the previous night. Deep layer shear was around 20 kt.

This Thursday afternoon featured a handful of strong thunderstorms mainly across the far southern counties of South Central Nebraska, including reports of pea to nickel size hail in Webster County. These thunderstorms served as the opening volley to a very active few days of weather, as a classic, powerful, nearly vertically stacked low pressure system organized across western Kansas during the day. By early afternoon, a 998 millibar surface low was centered across south central Kansas, with a warm front extending from west to east near and mainly south of the Nebraska-Kansas border. In the vicinity of this strengthening warm front, the mesoscale environment featured modest MLCAPE values only around 500 J/kg, but decent deep-layer vertical wind shear around 40-50 knots. In response to modest low-level heating and destabilization within the northernmost reaches of the mid-level dry slot along with intense forcing from the mid-level low and considerable upper-level jet stream divergence, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms erupted near the state line by mid afternoon, drifting a small distance northward into Nebraska before outrunning the instability and weakening. By late afternoon all storms had lost intensity, transitioning to more of a general widespread rainfall. The parent low pressure system continued to impact South Central Nebraska through the 15th, bringing very strong northwest winds in excess of 50 MPH to much of the region, and even 1-3 inches of snow to locations north of Interstate 80, including Ord and Osceola. On a positive note, this powerful spring storm system brought nearly all of South Central Nebraska some much-needed, widespread rainfall of 1 to over 2 inches. Some of the highest 48-hour precipitation totals from the 14th-15th included Canaday Steam Plant southeast of Lexington with 2.46 inches, and Loup City with 2.26 inches.

Large hail driven by 60 mph winds blasted Blue Hill early in the morning breaking some windows and knocking out power for a time.