Alert archive / Nebraska / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026

Mesoscale Discussion 752

May 17, 202612 counties in Kansas; 39 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 17, 2026, 2:45 PM CDT for 12 counties in Kansas; 39 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 17, 2026, 2:45 PM CDT (19:45 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 2026, 3:45 PM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning
Severe potential...tornado watch likely
Chance of a watch
95%
All 51 counties

Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Marshall County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Republic County, KS, Smith County, KS, Washington County, KS, Adams County, NE, Boone County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Butler County, NE, Cass County, NE, Clay County, NE, Colfax County, NE, Dodge County, NE, Douglas County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Gage County, NE, Greeley County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Howard County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Johnson County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Lancaster County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nance County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Otoe County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Platte County, NE, Polk County, NE, Saline County, NE, Sarpy County, NE, Saunders County, NE, Seward County, NE, Sherman County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Valley County, NE, Washington County, NE, Webster County, NE, York County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:49 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 162 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2026-05-17Temperature 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2026-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 38 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
1204 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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, 7:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Cloud, Decatur, Graham, Jewell, Mitchell and 10 more119 min
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, 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.