Hail in Nebraska, August 17, 2001

Name: Hail in Nebraska, August 17, 2001
Start: 2001-08-17T16:25
End: 2001-08-17T19:35
Location: Nebraska

August 17, 2001 · NWS GID · 5 events in 4 counties and zones

5 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: $2,000
Crop damage: $200,000
Events: 5

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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 17, 1:10 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 17, 1:10 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
210 PM CDT FRI AUG 17 2001

QUESTION FOR THE DAY IS WHETHER CONV WILL FIRE LT THIS AFTN INTO THIS
EVENING.

19Z SFC MAP SHOWS PREFNTL TROUGH ROUGHLY ALG A ONL TO MCK LINE IN
REFLECTION OF UPR TROF DIGGING ACRS SD ATTM. PLUME OF STEEP MID LVL
LAPSE RATES AHD OF THIS FTR COMBINED WITH INCREASING LOW LVL WAA AS
WINDS CONT TO BACK AHD OF UPR TROF...ALL LEADING TO A SMALL BUT
PERSISTENT BAND OF MID LVL CLDS/SHOWERS FM ODX BACK TO W TO BFF.
DESTABILIZATION CONTS UNABATED ACRS MOST OF CWA WITH 18Z TEMPS
RUNNING WELL ABV 12Z GUIDANCE NUMBERS AND DEWPOINTS WELL INTO MID
60S...ALL LEADING TO SIG INSTABILITY THIS AFTN.

12Z ETA/NGM ALG WITH LATEST RUC ALL POINTING TO CONV INITIATION ALG
SFC TROF ARND 21Z ALG A OLU TO EAR LINE. BELIEVE WITH MOST LOCALES
SITTING AT CONV TEMP ALREADY AND DECENT SFC CVRG ALG BNDRY ESP FM
GRI EAST...THINGS SHLD POP. WOULD XPC ACTIVITY TO LINGER INTO MID
EVENING EAST BEFORE PRIMARY COLD FNT ASSOCD/W SIG UPR TROF OVR
MANITOBA SWEEPS PRECIP S AND E. CAA ASSOCD/W COLD FNT LAGGING
THIS AFTN AND IS NOT PROGGED INTO CWA UNTIL SAT AM SO XPC TEMPS
TONIGHT SIMILAR TO LAST NIGHT. HIGHS SAT WILL BE TRICKY GIVEN PROGGED
EARNEST LOW LVL CAA OFFSET BY INSOLATION. GOING NUMBERS IN THE
BALLPARK. BUILDING RIDGE SAT NIGHT WILL LEAD TO COOL NIGHT BUT WARMUP
COMMENCES SUN AS FLW SHIFT S AND UPR RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD AHD OF
UPSTREAM TROF OVR SW CANADA.

IN THE EXTNDD...MED RANGE MODELS PRETTY SIMILAR WITH EVOLUTION OF
AMPLIFYING UPR TROF ALG THE W COAST AND EWD SHIFT/FLATTENING OF UPR
RIDGE INTO THE PLAINS. THIS WOULD FAVR PERSISTENT LEE SIDE TROF AND
NIGHTLY MCS CLUSTERS TIED TO NOCTURNAL JET. AT THIS POINT...ITS
FRIVOLOUS TO TRY AND PIN ANYTHING DOWN AND WILL BROAD-BRUSH TUE-THU
TIME FRAME. HWVR MORE CONFIDENT THAT AS RIDGE SHIFTS E...AND NAO
CONTS IN INCREASINGLY POSITIVE PHASE...THAT RTN TO ABV NORMAL TEMPS
IN STORE FOR CWA.

.GID...NONE.

TEH

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:25 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Buffalo

When: August 17, 4:25 PM CST
Where: Buffalo County, 10 mi SW of Pleasanton
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: $200,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.867, -99.217

Hail, Howard

When: August 17, 5:20 PM CST
Where: Howard County, Dannebrog
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.117, -98.550

Hail, Sherman

When: August 17, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Sherman County, 5 mi NE of Litchfield
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.217, -99.083

Hail, Nuckolls

When: August 17, 7:25 PM CST
Where: Nuckolls County, Nelson
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 40.200, -98.067

Hail, Nuckolls

When: August 17, 7:35 PM CST
Where: Nuckolls County, Ruskin
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 40.150, -97.867

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, August 2001

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: 5265757, 5265758, 5265759, 5265760, 5265761.