Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 286

May 18, 20258 counties in Colorado; 12 counties in Kansas; 17 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 18, 2025, 1:57 PM MDT for 8 counties in Colorado; 12 counties in Kansas; 17 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 18, 2025, 1:57 PM MDT (19:57 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 2025, 8:00 PM MDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 37 counties

Kit Carson County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Washington County, CO, Weld County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Logan County, KS, Norton County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Arthur County, NE, Banner County, NE, Chase County, NE, Cheyenne County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Garden County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Keith County, NE, Kimball County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, McPherson County, NE, Morrill County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:57 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
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 2:08 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUAdams, Morgan37 min
May 18, 2:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld31 min
May 18, 2:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUMorgan, Weld37 min
May 18, 2:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan, Morgan, Weld45 min
May 18, 2:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULarimer, Weld44 min
May 18, 2:56 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULogan, Weld34 min
May 18, 3:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUMorgan45 min
May 18, 3:11 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUMorgan, Weld34 min
May 18, 3:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Kit Carson60 min
May 18, 3:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan, Weld35 min
May 18, 3:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOUWeld45 min
May 18, 3:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma60 min
May 18, 3:46 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatCYSBanner, Cheyenne, Kimball, Morrill44 min
May 18, 3:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDSherman28 min
May 18, 3:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan20 min
May 18, 3:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma35 min
May 18, 4:00 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDGreeley, Logan, Wallace, Wichita30 min
May 18, 4:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOULogan44 min
May 18, 4:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Wichita27 min
May 18, 4:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDYuma55 min
May 18, 4:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBanner, Kimball37 min
May 18, 4:10 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULogan35 min
May 18, 4:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Sherman35 min
May 18, 4:11 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULogan34 min
May 18, 4:13 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma32 min
May 18, 4:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatCYSCheyenne46 min
May 18, 4:18 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma27 min
May 18, 4:22 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma38 min
May 18, 4:22 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDLogan, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace53 min
May 18, 4:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOULogan34 min
May 18, 4:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatCYSBanner, Cheyenne, Kimball, Morrill49 min
May 18, 4:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove, Logan60 min
May 18, 4:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne54 min
May 18, 4:38 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDGove, Logan37 min
May 18, 4:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOUPhillips49 min
May 18, 4:41 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne34 min
May 18, 4:44 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne15 min
May 18, 4:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson11 min
May 18, 4:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOULogan31 min
May 18, 4:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan, Phillips40 min
May 18, 4:50 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSCheyenne, Morrill25 min
May 18, 4:51 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDCheyenne32 min
May 18, 4:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSCheyenne, Morrill50 min
May 18, 4:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBanner, Scotts Bluff48 min
May 18, 4:59 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatBOUSedgwick46 min
May 18, 5:11 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDGove, Logan34 min
May 18, 5:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Thomas36 min
May 18, 5:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatCYSBox Butte, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sioux46 min
May 18, 5:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDCheyenne, Rawlins60 min
May 18, 5:15 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDGove, Logan30 min
May 18, 5:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDundy32 min
May 18, 5:29 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne31 min
May 18, 5:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFDeuel, Garden46 min
May 18, 5:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSCheyenne, Morrill24 min
May 18, 5:38 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDGove, Sheridan37 min
May 18, 5:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove, Sheridan, Thomas64 min
May 18, 5:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDDundy34 min
May 18, 5:45 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDDundy, Hitchcock30 min
May 18, 5:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFChase, Hayes53 min
May 18, 5:53 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma22 min
May 18, 6:05 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFChase, Hayes40 min
May 18, 6:07 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFGarden38 min
May 18, 6:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma50 min
May 18, 6:10 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDSheridan20 min
May 18, 6:12 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDHitchcock13 min
May 18, 6:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDDundy, Hitchcock31 min
May 18, 6:15 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDGove, Sheridan15 min
May 18, 6:26 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma34 min
May 18, 6:27 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFKeith, Perkins48 min
May 18, 6:34 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne26 min
May 18, 6:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur, Graham, Norton, Sheridan40 min
May 18, 6:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln48 min
May 18, 6:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDHitchcock15 min
May 18, 6:45 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFHayes, Lincoln45 min
May 18, 6:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGraham25 min
May 18, 6:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatLBFHayes, Lincoln57 min
May 18, 6:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Rawlins35 min
May 18, 7:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGraham, Norton62 min
May 18, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln, Logan, McPherson, Thomas15 min
May 18, 7:27 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Rawlins78 min
May 18, 7:32 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln43 min
May 18, 7:57 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDHitchcock18 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 339 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2025-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 723 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2025-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 206 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
723 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-377 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1181 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
206 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
225 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 1:12 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCKit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and 2 more3 hr
May 18, 4:14 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLogan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Yuma2 hr
May 18, 2:21 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Finney, Ford and 13 more114 min
May 18, 2:38 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis and 20 more8 hr
May 18, 4:39 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellsworth, Geary, Jewell and 14 more3 hr
May 18, 5:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCButler, Chase, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Dickinson and 26 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2025Tornado Watches in Kansas, 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.