Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, June 13, 1998

A warm front lifting north and a strong jet stream played a key role in the eruption of severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon in south-central Nebraska. Large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds and two tornadic thunderstorms caused millions of dollars in damage.The first tornadic thunderstorm occurred in northern Gosper county just outside of the town of Elwood. The tornado sat down to the southwest of Elwood then travelled east. After a mile, the tornado turned and travelled due north. It hit one farmstead, heavily damaging the home and totally destroying several outbuildings. The path of the tornado when right down the middle of US highway 283. A truck driver and a family of three were travelling north of Elwood when they realized the tornado was heading toward them. They abandon their vehicles and sought cover in a ditch. The tornado passed nearly overhead but the four survived with only minor injuries. The one car was totalled and the semi-truck, loaded with ice cream, was heavily damaged. The cargo was a total loss. This same severe thunderstorm marched northeast and dropped another brief tornado just southeast of Odessa but no significant damage was reported.Another severe thunderstorm, which began in Smith county, Kansas, moved just north of the stateline and produced at least two confirmed touchdowns. One was reported two miles north of Bostwick but did little damage. Another tornado passed just to the southeast of Chester and damaged a farmstead. The tornado sat down about a mile east of town then travelled southeast. Damage at the farm was mainly confined to a couple of outbuildings. The people in the farm house were not injured. At least 25 center irrigation pivots were lost to the storm. Damaging baseball sized hail was noted in Nelson and near Red Cloud. Hail to the size of soft balls was reported eight miles southeast of Red Cloud. In Clay county, residents were nailed twice with strong winds and hail during the evening. The first occurred near 6 pm as 60 to 80 mph winds roared across the county. The winds were likely outflow from the severe thunderstorm just to the south of the area. At least two farmsteads had out building damage and tree damage was significant. About three hours later, a different severe thunderstorm dumped golf ball sized hail while producing 60+ mph winds in central Clay county. Many vehicles in Clay Center were damaged and 25 windows were shattered in the Courthouse. Corn and soybean loss totalled over two million dollars as some crops were levelled by the wind and hail.