Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 293

May 19, 20255 counties in Iowa; 31 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 19, 2025, 1:11 PM CDT for 5 counties in Iowa; 31 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 19, 2025, 1:11 PM CDT (18:11 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 2025, 8:15 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 36 counties

Fremont County, IA, Mills County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Page County, IA, Pottawattamie County, IA, Antelope County, NE, Boone County, NE, Butler County, NE, Cass County, NE, Clay County, NE, Colfax County, NE, Dodge County, NE, Douglas County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Gage County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Johnson County, NE, Lancaster County, NE, Madison County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nance County, NE, Nemaha County, NE, Otoe County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Pierce County, NE, Platte County, NE, Polk County, NE, Richardson County, NE, Saline County, NE, Sarpy County, NE, Saunders County, NE, Seward County, NE, Stanton County, NE, Washington County, NE, York County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:10 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
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 19, 2:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBoone42 min
May 19, 2:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDMerrick, Nance40 min
May 19, 2:46 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDNance26 min
May 19, 2:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDHamilton, Merrick, Polk40 min
May 19, 2:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Hamilton, Polk, York37 min
May 19, 2:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBoone, Madison, Platte31 min
May 19, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDNance50 min
May 19, 3:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBoone, Platte48 min
May 19, 3:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Nuckolls41 min
May 19, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGIDHamilton, Merrick, Nance, Polk51 min
May 19, 3:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGIDHamilton, Polk, York33 min
May 19, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXPlatte51 min
May 19, 3:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Nuckolls48 min
May 19, 3:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPolk47 min
May 19, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXButler, Colfax, Platte46 min
May 19, 4:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGIDClay, Fillmore24 min
May 19, 4:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXGage, Johnson, Nemaha, Pawnee, Richardson38 min
May 19, 4:42 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXButler, Colfax, Platte33 min
May 19, 4:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXColfax, Cuming, Madison, Platte, Stanton26 min
May 19, 4:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXButler, Colfax, Dodge, Platte, Saunders40 min
May 19, 4:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatOAXJohnson, Nemaha, Pawnee, Richardson49 min
May 19, 5:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatOAXButler, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Saunders51 min
May 19, 5:24 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXPawnee, Richardson51 min
May 19, 5:30 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedOAXDodge, Saunders30 min
May 19, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXButler, Colfax, Dodge, Saunders40 min
May 19, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXNemaha, Pawnee, Richardson44 min
May 19, 5:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXButler, Lancaster, Saunders, Seward29 min
May 19, 5:58 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXPawnee, Richardson26 min
May 19, 6:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatOAXBurt, Dodge, Washington51 min
May 19, 6:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXDodge, Douglas, Saunders, Washington29 min
May 19, 6:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXRichardson31 min
May 19, 6:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXLancaster23 min
May 19, 6:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBurt, Washington46 min
May 19, 7:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXCass, Lancaster, Otoe26 min
May 19, 7:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBurt, Washington33 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 6.2 hours before the alert went out and 278 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2025-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 277 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2025-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 564 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
277 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-324 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
694 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
564 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
645 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
9.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 19, 3:31 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Cass and 23 more89 min
May 19, 3:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Cass, Clarke, Davis and 12 more6 hr
May 19, 6:08 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page and 2 more2 hr
May 19, 12:50 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrew, Barton, Bates, Buchanan, Cass, Cedar and 9 more115 min
May 19, 1:37 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAndrew, Atchison, Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton and 43 more9 hr
May 19, 2:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDunklin, Pemiscot116 min
May 19, 5:21 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Cass, Cedar and 17 more114 min
May 18, 7:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFrontier, Furnas, Gosper, Hayes, Hitchcock, Lincoln and 1 more119 min
May 18, 8:57 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBuffalo, Custer, Dawson, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas and 16 more4 hr
May 18, 10:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Buffalo, Dawson, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas and 7 more115 min
May 19, 12:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoone, Burt, Butler, Clay, Colfax, Cuming and 23 more113 min
May 19, 3:12 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Cass, Colfax, Dodge, Douglas, Fillmore and 18 more2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2025Tornado Watches in Iowa, 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.