Nebraska, 1999

Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, April 21, 1999

April 21, 1999 · NWS GID · 9 events in 5 counties and zones

Thunderstorms developed west of Holdrege in the morning and spread quickly northeast to St. Paul and Greeley by noon.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$122,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
9

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

Thunderstorms developed west of Holdrege in the morning and spread quickly northeast to St. Paul and Greeley by noon. Early on, the thunderstorms dumped hail and torrential rainfall northeast of Holdrege. 2.75" diameter hail was reported north of Holdrege and some areas in northwest Phelps county noted three foot hail drifts. Rain and hail teamed to produce areas of erosion across freshly tilled fields. As the storms spread northeast, a brief tornado damaged a home under construction north of Dannebrog. The tornado nearly destroyed the entire main floor. Only one wall was left standing. The owner and construction crew at the house at the time escaped injury by going to the basement just before the tornado struck. Minor roof damage occurred on a nearby house. Another brief tornado touch down occurred just south of St. Paul, causing some minor damage to outbuildings.

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 hail, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Phelps

When
April 21, 8:31 AM CST
Where
Phelps County, 8 mi N of Bertrand
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
40.650, -99.630

Hail, Phelps

When
April 21, 8:39 AM CST
Where
Phelps County, 15 mi N of Holdrege
Measured
2.75 in hail
Property damage
$2,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.670, -99.370

Hail, Buffalo

When
April 21, 8:46 AM CST
Where
Buffalo County, 2 mi S of Elm Creek
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
40.680, -99.370

Hail, Dawson

When
April 21, 8:55 AM CST
Where
Dawson County, Overton
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
40.730, -99.530

Hail, Buffalo

When
April 21, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Buffalo County, Elm Creek
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
40.720, -99.370

Tornado, Howard

When
April 21, 10:50 AM CST to 10:55 AM CST
Where
Howard County, Dannebrog to 1 mi NE of Dannebrog
Rating
F2
Path length
2 mi
Path width
30 yd
Property damage
$100,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.130, -98.550

Tornado, Howard

When
April 21, 11:15 AM CST
Where
Howard County, 2 mi S of St Paul
Rating
F0
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
20 yd
Property damage
$20,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.180, -98.470

Hail, Howard

When
April 21, 11:28 AM CST
Where
Howard County, 10 mi NE of St Paul
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
41.320, -98.330

Hail, Greeley

When
April 21, 11:28 AM CST
Where
Greeley County, 1 mi S of Greeley
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.530, -98.530

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nebraska in 1999Every state in 1999This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 1999Warnings in Nebraska, April 1999

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5689859, 5689860, 5689861, 5689862, 5689863, 5689864, 5689865, 5689866, 5689867.