Alert archive / Nebraska / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026

Mesoscale Discussion 741

May 16, 202616 counties in Kansas; 20 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 16, 2026, 7:01 PM CDT for 16 counties in Kansas; 20 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 119 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2026, 7:01 PM CDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2026, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
119 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning
Severe thunderstorm watch 209...211
All 36 counties

Cheyenne County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Graham County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Norton County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Smith County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Adams County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Clay County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Webster County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:02 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, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 249 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 00:00Z on 2026-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1409 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 00:00Z on 2026-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 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
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

The text

As transmitted.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 8:36 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCRepublic, Washington114 min
May 16, 10:15 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCloud, Jewell, Marshall, Mitchell, Nemaha, Osborne and 4 more2 hr
May 16, 10:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtchison, Doniphan4 hr
May 17, 12:33 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Brown, Clay, Doniphan, Jackson, Marshall and 4 more87 min
May 17, 2:45 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell and 6 more60 min
May 17, 3:08 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Sherman, Wallace3 hr
May 17, 3:16 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellsworth and 16 more8 hr
May 17, 3:38 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa and 4 more2 hr
May 17, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCheyenne, Logan, Rawlins, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace3 hr
May 17, 5:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Ottawa and 3 more62 min
May 17, 5:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa and 4 more2 hr
May 17, 6:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Marshall, Ottawa, Republic, Washington67 min
May 17, 3:08 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoone, Buffalo, Custer, Dawson, Greeley, Hall and 7 more97 min
May 17, 11:58 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Boyd, Brown, Cherry, Garfield, Holt and 5 more92 min
May 17, 1:11 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAntelope, Boone, Boyd, Brown, Burt, Cedar and 18 more2 hr
May 17, 1:42 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAntelope, Boyd, Burt, Cedar, Cuming, Dakota and 12 more8 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Nebraska, 2026Mesoscale Discussions in Kansas, 2026Every mesoscale discussion 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.