Alert archive / Kansas / Red Flag Warnings in 2026

Red Flag Warning 28, NWS Hastings, NE

May 17, 2026Franklin County, Harlan County, Nebraska; 4 counties in Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this red flag warning at May 17, 2026, 1:58 AM CDT for Franklin County, Harlan County, Nebraska; 4 counties in Kansas. It took effect at May 17, 2026, 1:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 7 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2026, 1:58 AM CDT (06:58 UTC)
In effect from: May 17, 2026, 1:00 PM CDT
Expired: May 17, 2026, 7:53 PM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE

Counties Osborne County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Smith County, KS, Franklin County, NE, Harlan County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:00 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 233 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1409 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2918 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this red flag warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this red flag warning went out at May 17, 12:33 AM CDT, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 12:33 AM CDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 16, 3:25 PM CDT, 10 hours 33 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Hastings NE
325 PM CDT Sat May 16 2026

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-
171200-
Phillips-Smith-Jewell-Rooks-Osborne-Mitchell-Valley-Greeley-Nance-
Sherman-Howard-Merrick-Polk-Dawson-Buffalo-Hall-Hamilton-York-
Gosper-Phelps-Kearney-Adams-Clay-Fillmore-Furnas-Harlan-Franklin-
Webster-Nuckolls-Thayer-
325 PM CDT Sat May 16 2026

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and
portions of north central Kansas.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight.

Isolated supercell thunderstorms may develop anytime after 5PM
this evening along a retreating warm front draped across south
central Nebraska. This potential is highly conditional, but should
activity develop, very large hail, damaging wind gusts, and a
tornado or two would all be possible.

More widespread thunderstorms are forecast to move in from the
west late this evening, generally after 8-9PM, and continue into
the overnight. This activity is expected to be severe, with
damaging wind gusts around 70 mph the primary threat. However,
large hail and tornadoes will also be possible. Isolated rainfall
amounts up to 2 inches may lead to brief ponding issues in known
trouble spots. The severe threat is forecast to end by around 3AM
tonight.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday.

On Sunday, the severe weather risk appears more isolated as
hot, dry air surges north into south central Nebraska. After
3 PM, isolated supercells are possible, mainly over portions of
south central Nebraska east of Highway 281. Should these storms
develop, they will move north northeast, and could produce up to
baseball size hail and tornadoes. Again, coverage appears limited
but the intensity of storms later Sunday could be very strong for
a time. During the later evening hours, additional severe storms
may move into the areas from the west, and favors south central
Nebraska for the most coverage of storms. Large hail and damaging
winds are the primary risks late Sunday evening and overnight.

On Monday, there is a lingering severe weather risk as a cold
front moves across the area. There remains uncertainty in timing
and location of the front, so stay tuned for more forecast
updates throughout the weekend. At this time, the greatest risk
looks to remain along, and especially east, of Highway 81.

In addition to the severe weather potential Sunday, dangerous fire
weather conditions are becoming increasingly likely for areas
along and south of the Nebraska, Kansas state line, within a zone
of surging hot, dry, and windy air from the southwest. A Fire
Weather Watch has been issued for these locations for Sunday
afternoon into early evening.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to
report any low level rotation, hail, or wind gusts over 50 mph to
the National Weather Service.

&&

More information may be obtained at the following web page:
   https://www.weather.gov/hastings

Thies

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 16, 11:46 PM CDT, 2 hours 12 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 16, 11:47 PM CDT, 2 hours 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 16, 11:58 PM CDT, 2 hours before

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Local storm report, May 17, 12:09 AM CDT, 1 hour 49 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 12:12 AM CDT, 1 hour 46 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 12:41 AM CDT, 1 hour 17 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Buffalo, Kearney	26 min
May 16, 7:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Greeley, Valley	28 min
May 16, 7:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Dawson, Gosper, Phelps	52 min
May 16, 7:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Adams, Buffalo, Hall, Kearney	50 min
May 16, 7:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	GID	Buffalo	6 hr
May 16, 7:48 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	GID	Hall, Howard	6 hr
May 16, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo, Dawson, Phelps	50 min
May 16, 8:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo, Hall	48 min
May 16, 8:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Franklin, Kearney, Webster	44 min
May 16, 8:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Furnas, Gosper, Harlan	50 min
May 16, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall, Hamilton, Howard, Merrick	44 min
May 16, 9:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Clay, Nuckolls, Webster	38 min
May 16, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Franklin, Gosper, Harlan, Phelps	48 min
May 16, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Polk, York	46 min
May 16, 9:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Webster	27 min
May 16, 9:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Franklin, Harlan	32 min
May 16, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Adams, Franklin, Harlan, Kearney, Phelps, Webster	59 min
May 16, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Clay, Nuckolls, Webster	44 min
May 16, 9:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Fillmore, Polk, York	39 min
May 16, 9:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	33 min
May 16, 10:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	GID	Adams, Franklin, Kearney	23 min
May 16, 10:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Adams, Clay, Kearney, Nuckolls, Webster	58 min
May 16, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	52 min
May 16, 10:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Fillmore, York	26 min
May 16, 10:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton, Howard, Merrick	53 min
May 16, 10:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Hamilton, Merrick, Polk, York	61 min
May 16, 11:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	51 min
May 17, 3:58 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	GID	Merrick	32 min
May 17, 4:09 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	GID	Sherman	51 min
May 17, 4:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo, Hall, Howard, Sherman	49 min
May 17, 4:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Howard, Sherman	40 min
May 17, 4:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall, Howard, Merrick	39 min
May 17, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Greeley, Howard, Merrick, Nance, Sherman	50 min
May 17, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Webster	50 min
May 17, 5:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	GID	Howard, Merrick, Nance, Polk	53 min
May 17, 5:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Nuckolls, Webster	24 min
May 17, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	GID	Nance	47 min
May 17, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Thayer	52 min
May 17, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Hamilton, Nuckolls, York	36 min
May 17, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	GID	Nance	23 min
May 17, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Merrick, Nance	45 min
May 17, 6:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Hamilton, Polk, York	27 min
May 17, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Hamilton, Polk, York	52 min
May 17, 6:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	50 min
May 17, 6:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Merrick, Nance	35 min
May 17, 6:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Thayer	37 min
May 17, 6:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning EmergencyTornado observedCatastrophic damage threat	GID	Thayer	13 min
May 16, 9:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	GID	Rooks	43 min
May 16, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Osborne, Rooks	67 min
May 16, 10:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	54 min
May 17, 4:45 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	GID	Jewell	30 min
May 17, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	50 min
May 17, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Jewell, Mitchell	48 min

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Kansas, 2026 Red Flag Warnings in Nebraska, 2026 Every red flag warning in 2026

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.