Power Outage in York, NE

Amongst the widespread damage from wind and hail, it was determined an EF2 tornado occurred. The tornado formed about two miles west-southwest of Lushton and immediately damaged three farmsteads. Damage included, but was not limited to the following: a garage being torn from a home; several outbuildings destroyed; extensive tree damage; irrigation pivots overturned; grain bins destroyed. Signs of leaf and mud splatter, lofted debris, and a multi-directional/convergent damage pattern was noted. Two minor injuries occurred. ||The tornado wind field may have been as wide as 400 yards at times. The tornado climbed out of the Big Blue River Valley and moved northeast toward the northwest side of Lushton. A farmstead just northwest of town was damaged, including a completely destroyed wood frame outbuilding, uprooted trees and some structural damage to the home. The structural damage was most likely caused by a large portion of the outbuilding hitting the home. In Lushton, there was widespread tree damage. A very large grain bin was destroyed, along with a smaller one.||The rating of EF2 and maximum wind speed estimate of 115 MPH was given based on power poles snapped north-northeast of Lushton. The tornado continued east-northeast and upset more pivots, destroyed grain bins, snapped power poles and caused tree damage. The tornado lifted about two miles west of McCool Junction.

Amongst the widespread damage from wind and hail, it was determined an EF2 tornado occurred. The tornado formed about two miles west-southwest of Lushton and immediately damaged three farmsteads. Damage included, but was not limited to the following: a garage being torn from a home; several outbuildings destroyed; extensive tree damage; irrigation pivots overturned; grain bins destroyed. Signs of leaf and mud splatter, lofted debris, and a multi-directional/convergent damage pattern was noted. Two minor injuries occurred. ||The tornado wind field may have been as wide as 400 yards at times. The tornado climbed out of the Big Blue River Valley and moved northeast toward the northwest side of Lushton. A farmstead just northwest of town was damaged, including a completely destroyed wood frame outbuilding, uprooted trees and some structural damage to the home. The structural damage was most likely caused by a large portion of the outbuilding hitting the home. In Lushton, there was widespread tree damage. A very large grain bin was destroyed, along with a smaller one.||The rating of EF2 and maximum wind speed estimate of 115 MPH was given based on power poles snapped north-northeast of Lushton. The tornado continued east-northeast and upset more pivots, destroyed grain bins, snapped power poles and caused tree damage. The tornado lifted about two miles west of McCool Junction.

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.

A wind gust of 79 MPH was recorded by the York Airport AWOS. Law enforcement reported downed power lines and resultant power outages across town and that 2 homes sustained damage due to fallen trees. The York News-Times reported that an unoccupied car was partially-crushed by a fallen tree on West Sixth Street.

A wind gust of 79 MPH was recorded by the York Airport AWOS. Law enforcement reported downed power lines and resultant power outages across town and that 2 homes sustained damage due to fallen trees. The York News-Times reported that an unoccupied car was partially-crushed by a fallen tree on West Sixth Street.

This tornado started just under one mile inside York County and quickly strengthened, destroying a grain bin and power poles on the York and Seward County line. This tornado was only in York County for a short time, with most of its damage occurring in Seward County. Damage along the path of the tornado in York County included overturned irrigation pivots, broken power poles, and the destruction of grain bins. The peak wind with this tornado was estimated to be 90 MPH.

This is a continuation of the tornado that started in northern Fillmore County. This tornado was the second to be rated an EF3 that affected south central Nebraska, starting in far northern Fillmore County before traversing a portion of York County and passing north of Cordova in Seward County. Damage along the track in Fillmore County was widespread, including one home which was totally destroyed. All 6 occupants took shelter in the basement. Another home suffered less significant damage, but outbuildings on the same property were destroyed. Also along the path of this tornado, and to the south of the path where rear flank downdraft winds occurred, numerous irrigation pivots were overturned, power poles were broken as well as trees and grain bins either damaged or destroyed. The strongest and widest time of this tornado occurred in Seward County, with a peak wind estimated to be 140 MPH and a maximum width of 2,640 yards, or 1.5 miles.

This tornado touched down approximately 3 miles northwest of York, traveling along a 9 mile path before lifting approximately 12 miles northwest of York. This tornado had a maximum width of 150 yards and maximum wind speed estimated to be 100 MPH.|Along this path, trees were damaged or uprooted, power poles were snapped and irrigation pivots overturned. There were a couple residences which suffered minor damage, but one garage was destroyed. Outbuildings and grain bins were also damaged or destroyed.

This tornado touched down approximately 5 miles south of York, traveling along a 16 mile path before lifting 12 miles northeast of York. It crossed over Interstate 80 approximately 1.3 miles east of the York interchange. This tornado had a maximum width of 400 yards and maximum wind speed estimated to be 110 MPH. Along this path, power poles and trees were snapped, large branches up to 12 to 18 inches in diameter were downed and irrigation pivots were overturned. Two outbuildings were damaged or destroyed.

This tornado touched down approximately 5 miles south of York, traveling along a 16 mile path before lifting 12 miles northeast of York. It crossed over Interstate 80 approximately 1.3 miles east of the York interchange. This tornado had a maximum width of 400 yards and maximum wind speed estimated to be 110 MPH. Along this path, power poles and trees were snapped, large branches up to 12 to 18 inches in diameter were downed and irrigation pivots were overturned. Two outbuildings were damaged or destroyed.

This tornado touched down approximately 4 miles southwest of Bradshaw, moving to the north-northeast and dissipating approximately 4 miles southeast of Polk, near the York and Polk County line. As the tornado approached Highway 34 west of Bradshaw, a metal outbuilding and grain bins were destroyed, and it also crossed a railroad line, derailing several train cars. North of Bradshaw, a home suffered significant roof damage and the loss of one wall, and as the tornado continued north, power poles were snapped, irrigation pivots were overturned, and several trees were damaged. Between Bradshaw to the area west of Benedict, a total of 40 power poles were downed. The maximum wind speed of this tornado was estimated to be 130 MPH.

Scattered power outages in York reported by law enforcement.

While the majority of South Central Nebraska enjoyed a seasonably-warm and tranquil Tuesday evening, it was a different story within a few far northeastern/east-central counties, where a pair of somewhat high-based supercells advanced south-southeastward, leaving behind swaths of mainly large hail but also more localized damaging winds. The first of these intense storms entered the local area into far eastern Nance County shortly after 7 p.m. CDT, striking Genoa and vicinity with a combination of estimated 70 MPH winds and nickel to quarter size hail. Around 8 p.m. CDT it reached central Polk County, pummeling the Osceola area with several minutes of hail up to 2 inches in diameter. An NeRAIN observer seven miles north of Osceola reported significantly stripped corn and that house flowers are now sticks. The supercell continued into eastern York County, still producing hail up to golf ball size in Thayer and ping pong balls east of McCool Junction. Around 9:30 p.m. CDT a weakening trend had commenced, but not before the storm brushed northeast Fillmore County on its way out of the local area and blew down a few tree branches near Exeter. Meanwhile, about 60 miles back to the northwest, another supercell somewhat-unexpectedly fired up over northern Nance County around 9 p.m. CDT. This storm was not as proficient of a large hail producer as its predecessor (largest reported was quarter size near Clarks and Hordville), but it packed more of a wind punch as its core started collapsing over the Hamilton-York County line between 10-10:30 p.m. CDT. Most notably, estimated 70 MPH gusts blew over a semi truck on Interstate 80 near the Hampton exit and also damaged a roof and broke power poles near Bradshaw. Shortly thereafter, this second supercell began dissipating, fading from radar over southeastern Fillmore County around 1130 p.m. CDT and bringing an end to all convection for the night. ||Forecast-wise, this was considered an all-or-nothing setup for South Central Nebraska in the early morning local forecast discussion, as some computer models correctly predicted the presence of supercells locally, while others insisted that all regional convection would focus at least slightly east-northeast of the area altogether. This uncertainty was understandable given various pros and cons at play. One of the biggest pros for robust supercell development was seasonably-strong deep layer wind shear of 40-50 knots, as the area resided under pronounced northwesterly flow within the interface between an expansive ridge over the southwestern states and a deep southeast Canada trough. As for cons, they were mainly highlighted by seasonably-unimpressive low level moisture and resultant instability. Although afternoon temperatures soared to around 90 (F) to the south of a west-east oriented warm front across northeast Nebraska, dewpoints along the front struggled to reach the low-60s during peak heating, yielding fairly modest mixed-layer CAPE no higher than 1000-1500 J/kg. Ultimately though, persistent low-level convergence along the intersection of the aforementioned warm front and a subtle, northeast-southwest oriented trough proved sufficient to spark convective initiation as early as 4 p.m. CDT about 60 miles to the north of South Central Nebraska. This early convection drifted more eastward initially, but eventually dove more southward as it intensified, allowing the first supercell to infiltrate far northeastern local counties. For a while it appeared this would be South Central Nebraska's only severe storm of the evening, but the second one likely ignited as the onset of a southwesterly low level jet converged into the first storm's trailing outflow.

This Wednesday evening featured the first somewhat-widespread severe thunderstorm event of 2020 within South Central Nebraska, with several reports of damaging winds and large hail focused primarily near and northeast of a line from Loup City-Grand Island-Hebron. Overall, damaging winds were the bigger issue, highlighted by a measured gust of 79 MPH at the York airport shortly before 10 p.m. CDT. As these winds tore into town, they took down several large tree branches (a few entire trees), causing fairly widespread power outages and even partially-crushing an unoccupied car. About an hour before reaching York, measured winds of 70 MPH struck the Chapman area, flipping over irrigation pivots and taking down a light pole at a convenience store. Later in the evening, shortly before storms completely exited the local area, estimated 70 MPH winds took down a giant tree limb in Alexandria (3 ft. diameter/50 ft. long). Although the majority of wind damage focused within eastern counties, severe-criteria gusts were ongoing even as storms first entered the local area earlier in the evening, including 64 MPH at Ord airport. As for hail, the majority of limited reports were quarter size or smaller, although a few stones up to golf ball size were noted in North Loup.||Breaking down event timing and evolution, the scattered to numerous storms that eventually infiltrated South Central Nebraska first developed as separate storm clusters during the mid-late afternoon, one over northwest Nebraska and another in the NE/KS/CO border area. Between 7-9 p.m. CDT, both of these clusters entered northern and western portions of the local area. The southern one, which had been occasionally severe over southwest Nebraska, lost some steam as it moved east, yielding only slightly sub-severe wind gust reports in Furnas County. Meanwhile, the northern storm complex clearly established itself as dominant, charging southeastward as damaging winds peaked in intensity between 8:30-11:30 p.m. CDT. Shortly before midnight, the back edge of the now linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) exited southeast out of Thayer County, ending all storm activity for the night. Turning to the meteorological setup, this was not a strongly-forced event, with the main feature in the mid-upper levels consisting of a low-amplitude shortwave trough tracking east-southeast across Nebraska out of western SD over the course of the afternoon-evening. Surface features across South Central Nebraska ahead of the storms were fairly nondescript, dominated by weak high pressure and southerly-to-easterly breezes only around 10 MPH or less. However, fairly steep low-mid level lapse rates were in place, with damaging wind potential likely enhanced by fairly large surface dewpoint depressions heading into the evening (on the order of 25-30 degrees F). Evening mesoscale analysis over South Central Nebraska revealed 1000-2000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and around 35-40 knots of deep-layer wind shear.

Though all severe-criteria storm reports in Nebraska occurred farther east near Omaha on this Tuesday afternoon and evening, a few strong to perhaps marginally severe storms briefly affected east-central portions of South Central Nebraska. Within this local area, the sole ground-truth report consisted of nickel size hail near the Interstate 80 Henderson exit around 7:30 p.m. CDT. Breaking down this rather low-key event, the first isolated cells of the afternoon popped up over northern Webster and northern Clay counties between 5-6 p.m. CDT. While the southwestern storm soon faded, the northeastern one intensified, with radar suggesting that hail to around quarter size might have fallen in southeastern Hamilton County especially between 6:30-7:00 p.m. CDT. However, there was no ground-truth verification of hail quite this large, with only the aforementioned nickel size report arriving a short time later from barely over the York County line. Thereafter, a few additional non-severe storms drifted through portions of York, Polk and northern Fillmore counties for a short while longer, but by 9 p.m. CDT all of this activity had either dissipated or vacated off into eastern Nebraska, leaving South Central Nebraska quiet for the remainder of the night. ||For a few days leading up this event, it appeared that South Central Nebraska could realize a more substantial severe weather threat. However, thanks largely to the axis of a fairly weak mid-level shortwave trough departing just east of the local area during the afternoon and evening, the greater coverage/severity of storms also concentrated slightly to the east, with local counties only getting a glancing blow. On the larger scale of the mid-upper levels, the aforementioned departing disturbance was embedded in modest west-southwest flow, well to the south of a more powerful closed low churning across southern Saskatchewan. At the surface, the isolated late afternoon development flared up along a north-south oriented pre-frontal trough, with mesoscale parameters in the Hamilton/York County area featuring rather potent mixed-layer CAPE up to around 2500 J/kg but only modest deep-layer shear around 30 knots.

Continuing an active few days of strong to severe thunderstorms and localized flooding, this Saturday afternoon and early evening featured a few fairly isolated severe storms across northeast portions of South Central Nebraska. Large hail was the main story with these storms. Although hail to at least quarter size was reported in Greeley and Polk Counties, the storm of the day pounded York County late in the afternoon. Hail of 1 to as much as 3 inches in diameter fell for several minutes in the city of York itself as this supercell storm drifted northeast. Widespread heavy rainfall was not an issue with these rather isolated storms, although a small corridor from the east side of York to near Gresham picked up around 1 inch. ||Aloft, the primary instigator for severe storm development was a lobe of mid-level energy swinging across the Central Plains along the southern periphery of a powerful, closed mid-level low pressure system centered over western South Dakota. At the surface, a rather subtle, north-south oriented trough axis pushed into South Central Nebraska during the afternoon, serving as the low-level focus. While the initial development of isolated strong storms took place by mid-afternoon west of Highway 281, the more isolated supercell development that focused across York County developed a short time later well ahead of the initial activity. The mesoscale environment in the York County area during this time featured around 2000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE, and roughly 30 knots of deep-layer wind shear.

Late evening thunderstorms gained a head of steam across York county and blasted the county with high winds. Wind gusts of 55 to 65 mph were common across the county with reports of trees and power lines down along and east of Highway 81.

Thunderstorms ripped south-central Nebraska with tornadoes, damaging winds and hail. A rain-wrapped tornado was sighted in western Valley county shortly after 7:30 pm by several storm chasers. The tornado blasted 2 farmsteads, one of which was abandoned. A total of 14 outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. The tornado was in the far western part of Valley county along the Comstock road. Another brief tornado was reported near Arcadia a short time later but no damage was confirmed.Elsewhere, vicious high winds over 70 mph did extensive damage north of Shelby in eastern Polk county. Several farmsteads sustained house, outbuilding, grain bin and tree damage. In one case, a garage was nearly ripped from the house it was attached to. Twenty four center pivot irrigation systems were severely damaged or destroyed. A semi-tractor trailer was overturned as the high winds approached. The driver was unhurt but a passenger sustained minor injuries and was treated at a nearby hospital. At one point, 4,500 customers were without power in the area. The high winds also pounded the Palmer area about an hour earlier that night. On a farm north of Palmer, a roof was torn from a metal building, a garage destroyed and a large goose neck trailer tossed several feet by the wind. The damage was strewn across a nearby corn field.Finally, hail caused crop and property damage in parts of the area. The St. Libory area sustained the worst damage with hail stones the size of baseballs and larger were reported. Siding and windows were heavily damaged on many homes, especially just north of town. Crop damage was fairly extensive along a narrow path in the same area.

Thunderstorms developed rapidly during the afternoon along a cold front slicing across south-central Nebraska. Most of the activity was east of Highway 281 with one tornado being reported. The tornado occurred about 10 miles southwest of Fullerton near the north banks of the Loup River. The tornado damaged trees and some irrigation pipe along its one mile path. As the thunderstorms moved southeast, high winds became the main storm threat. In the Edgar area, two grain bins were damaged and numerous tree limbs were broken. Power was interrupted for a short time to customers in Clay, Nuckolls and Fillmore counties. Tree limbs were damaged or broken in several communities