Tornado and Hail in Nebraska, July 20, 2000

A cluster of severe thunderstorms rumbled southeast across a portion of south-central Nebraska producing large hail and a brief tornado. The tornado was spotted by a deputy sheriff in southeast Gosper county. Large hail across the area did cause considerable property and crop damage from south of Bertrand to the Kansas state line south of Orleans. Reports of softball size hail were recorded south of Loomis with hail nearly as large in Holdrege. Automobiles, houses, and agricultural buildings all sustained damage in southwest Phelps county.As the storm moved southeast, it severely damaged about 33,000 acres of crop and pasture land in western Harlan county. The sheriff reported drifts along Highway 89 south of Orleans stretched for 8 miles, or to about the Kansas state line. The nearly 4 inch rain which followed the hail fell on top of 5 inches of rain just a few days earlier. Losses due to land erosion were estimated at $70,000. Ironically, this storm passed through just 3 weeks after another vicious hailstorm pummeled crops in western Harlan county. Both storms effectively wiped out any prospect of producing any significant corn or soybean crop in the western half of the county.