Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 214

May 17, 20267 counties in Iowa; 22 counties in Kansas; 39 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 17, 2026, 3:16 PM CDT for 7 counties in Iowa; 22 counties in Kansas; 39 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2026, 3:16 PM CDT (20:16 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2026, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 68 counties

Fremont County, IA, Harrison County, IA, Mills County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Page County, IA, Pottawattamie County, IA, Shelby County, IA, Barton County, KS, Brown County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Ellsworth County, KS, Geary County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Marshall County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rice County, KS, Riley County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline 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, Howard County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Johnson County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Lancaster County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nance County, NE, Nemaha County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Otoe County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Platte County, NE, Polk County, NE, Richardson 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 Omaha radar (KOAX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:17 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: 50%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 50%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
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	GID	Jewell, Smith	50 min
May 17, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Greeley, Howard, Merrick, Nance, Sherman	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, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Lincoln, Russell	59 min
May 17, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Boone, Platte	56 min
May 17, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Jewell	52 min
May 17, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	50 min
May 17, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore, Hamilton, Nuckolls, York	36 min
May 17, 5:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Antelope, Boone, Madison, Platte	43 min
May 17, 5:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Republic	41 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, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	OAX	Madison, Platte, Stanton	44 min
May 17, 6:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Hamilton, Polk, York	27 min
May 17, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Jewell, Mitchell	48 min
May 17, 6:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Platte	42 min
May 17, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Saline, Seward	53 min
May 17, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Cloud, Republic	30 min
May 17, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Hamilton, Polk, York	52 min
May 17, 6:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Colfax, Platte, Stanton	25 min
May 17, 6:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	50 min
May 17, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Colfax, Cuming, Stanton	49 min
May 17, 6:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Russell	61 min
May 17, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Colfax, Platte	18 min
May 17, 6:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton	52 min
May 17, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Burt, Cuming, Dodge, Stanton, Thurston, Wayne	66 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 17, 6:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Lancaster, Saline, Saunders, Seward	42 min
May 17, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Cloud, Republic	17 min
May 17, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Butler, Colfax, Platte	51 min
May 17, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Saunders	42 min
May 17, 7:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Jefferson, Saline	32 min
May 17, 7:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GID	Fillmore, Thayer	35 min
May 17, 7:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Washington	19 min
May 17, 7:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Jefferson, Saline, Seward	44 min
May 17, 7:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Ellsworth, Lincoln, Saline	58 min
May 17, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Gage, Jefferson	40 min
May 17, 7:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Lincoln	39 min
May 17, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	19 min
May 17, 7:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Harrison, Monona	48 min
May 17, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Russell	47 min
May 17, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Ottawa	45 min
May 17, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders, Washington	45 min
May 17, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Cass, Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy, Saunders	59 min
May 17, 7:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Gage, Jefferson, Lancaster, Saline	29 min
May 17, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Washington	40 min
May 17, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Cloud	25 min
May 17, 7:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Ottawa	26 min
May 17, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer	28 min
May 17, 7:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders	43 min
May 17, 7:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Cloud, Republic	24 min
May 17, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Otoe, Pawnee	49 min
May 17, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Harrison, Monona	45 min
May 17, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Lancaster, Saunders	44 min
May 17, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Cloud, Ottawa	42 min
May 17, 8:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Harrison, Pottawattamie	26 min
May 17, 8:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Washington	40 min
May 17, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Russell	66 min
May 17, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Cloud, Republic, Washington	35 min
May 17, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Harrison, Mills, Pottawattamie, Shelby	64 min
May 17, 8:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Pottawattamie	29 min
May 17, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Ottawa	44 min
May 17, 8:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Marshall, Washington	29 min
May 17, 8:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Cass, Lancaster, Otoe	27 min
May 17, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Harrison, Shelby	65 min
May 17, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders	50 min
May 17, 8:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Harrison, Pottawattamie	25 min
May 17, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Fremont	46 min
May 17, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Clay, Cloud, Riley, Washington	46 min
May 17, 8:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Russell	6 hr
May 17, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Washington	34 min
May 17, 8:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Harrison, Monona	33 min
May 17, 8:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Nemaha, Pawnee	47 min
May 17, 8:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Mills	29 min
May 17, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Harrison, Monona, Pottawattamie, Shelby	64 min
May 17, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Washington	34 min
May 17, 8:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Ottawa	48 min
May 17, 9:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page	72 min
May 17, 9:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Mills, Montgomery, Pottawattamie	39 min
May 17, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Ellsworth, Lincoln, Saline	65 min
May 17, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Washington	35 min
May 17, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe	46 min
May 17, 9:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton, Russell	59 min
May 17, 9:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Clay, Riley	29 min
May 17, 9:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Gage, Pawnee	39 min
May 17, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall	34 min
May 17, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Clay, Dickinson, Ottawa	34 min
May 17, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Nemaha, Pawnee, Richardson	46 min
May 17, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Nemaha	44 min
May 17, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Fremont	30 min
May 17, 10:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page	54 min
May 17, 10:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Barton, Russell	66 min
May 17, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	18 min
May 17, 10:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Barton	41 min
May 17, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Ellsworth, Lincoln	67 min
May 17, 10:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Brown, Jackson, Nemaha	32 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 98 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: 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

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 1:11 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Harrison, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien and 4 more	2 hr
May 17, 1:42 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon and 6 more	8 hr
May 17, 3:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Lyon, O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux	89 min
May 17, 5:45 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Clay, Emmet, Floyd, Franklin and 10 more	60 min
May 17, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Fayette and 13 more	6 hr
May 17, 6:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills and 6 more	67 min
May 16, 7:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cheyenne, Cloud, Decatur, Graham, Jewell, Mitchell and 10 more	119 min
May 16, 8:36 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Republic, Washington	114 min
May 16, 10:15 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cloud, Jewell, Marshall, Mitchell, Nemaha, Osborne and 4 more	2 hr
May 16, 10:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Atchison, Doniphan	4 hr
May 17, 12:33 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atchison, Brown, Clay, Doniphan, Jackson, Marshall and 4 more	87 min
May 17, 2:45 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell and 6 more	60 min
May 17, 3:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cheyenne, Sherman, Wallace	3 hr
May 17, 3:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa and 4 more	2 hr
May 17, 4:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cheyenne, Logan, Rawlins, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace	3 hr
May 17, 5:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Ottawa and 3 more	62 min
May 17, 5:19 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa and 4 more	2 hr
May 17, 3:08 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Buffalo, Custer, Dawson, Greeley, Hall and 7 more	97 min
May 17, 11:58 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blaine, Boyd, Brown, Cherry, Garfield, Holt and 5 more	92 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2026 Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2026 Every tornado watch 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.