Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 178

April 27, 2025Sedgwick County, Colorado; 22 counties in Nebraska; 6 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 27, 2025, 3:56 PM MDT for Sedgwick County, Colorado; 22 counties in Nebraska; 6 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 9 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 27, 2025, 3:56 PM MDT (21:56 UTC)
Expired
Apr 28, 2025, 1:00 AM MDT
In force
9 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 29 counties

Sedgwick County, CO, Arthur County, NE, Box Butte County, NE, Brown County, NE, Chase County, NE, Cherry County, NE, Cheyenne County, NE, Dawes County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Garden County, NE, Grant County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hooker County, NE, Keith County, NE, Keya Paha County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Logan County, NE, McPherson County, NE, Morrill County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Rock County, NE, Sheridan County, NE, Thomas County, NE, Bennett County, SD, Jackson County, SD, Mellette County, SD, Oglala Lakota County, SD, Todd County, SD, Tripp County, SD

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:56 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

31 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 27, 4:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFCherry, Garden, Grant, Sheridan43 min
Apr 27, 5:16 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry, Garden, Grant, Sheridan44 min
Apr 27, 5:24 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry, Grant36 min
Apr 27, 5:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFSheridan38 min
Apr 27, 5:53 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedLBFCherry, Garden, Grant, Sheridan52 min
Apr 27, 6:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFSheridan40 min
Apr 27, 6:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFCherry, Grant, Hooker52 min
Apr 27, 6:17 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFSheridan43 min
Apr 27, 6:18 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNROglala Lakota72 min
Apr 27, 6:28 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry, Grant47 min
Apr 27, 6:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFArthur, Grant, Hooker42 min
Apr 27, 6:44 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatLBFCherry, Grant, Sheridan46 min
Apr 27, 6:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFSheridan41 min
Apr 27, 7:08 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry, Grant52 min
Apr 27, 7:10 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedLBFCherry35 min
Apr 27, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNROglala Lakota45 min
Apr 27, 7:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFCherry46 min
Apr 27, 7:44 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry46 min
Apr 27, 7:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCuster, Oglala Lakota, Pennington52 min
Apr 27, 8:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFSheridan23 min
Apr 27, 8:23 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry37 min
Apr 27, 8:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSDawes27 min
Apr 27, 8:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBox Butte, Dawes, Sioux39 min
Apr 27, 8:51 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCuster, Fall River, Oglala Lakota37 min
Apr 27, 8:52 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry38 min
Apr 27, 9:25 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry50 min
Apr 27, 9:57 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedLBFCherry48 min
Apr 27, 10:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatUNRBennett54 min
Apr 27, 10:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatUNRTodd43 min
Apr 27, 11:04 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRBennett, Todd56 min
Apr 27, 11:40 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRMellette, Todd37 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 175 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2025-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2025-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 296 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
367 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 27, 2:29 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPhillips, Sedgwick2 hr
Apr 27, 5:44 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArthur, Grant, Hooker, McPherson, Sheridan91 min
Apr 27, 4:17 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButte, Harding, Lawrence, Meade88 min
Apr 27, 4:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCButte, Custer, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Lawrence and 4 more7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2025Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 2025Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.