Lightning, Buffalo
- When
- August 23, 12:00 PM CST
- Where
- Buffalo County, Kearney
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.855, -99.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning Strike in Nebraska, August 23, 2001
A woman touching a van was apparently jolted by a lightning strike which hit the van. The woman was not injured by the sudden jolt, but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
A woman touching a van was apparently jolted by a lightning strike which hit the van. The woman was not injured by the sudden jolt, but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. She reported feeling "stiff and sore" the next day.
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 23, 2:35 AM CST, 9 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 23, 2:35 AM CST, 9 hours 25 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 335 AM CDT THU AUG 23 2001 ...MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS RAIN CHANCES TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY... WV IMAGERY FEATURING UPPER TROUGH SPINNING EASTWARD ACROSS SOUTHERN CO OVERNIGHT. DIVERGENT UPPER FLOW AND PLENTIFUL MID TO UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE ACCOMPANYING THIS FEATURE. LATEST SUBJECTIVE SURFACE ANALYSIS HAS FRONTAL BOUNDARY FROM NRN MO...INTO NCNTRL KS...AND THEN STRETCHING SWWRD INTO SW KS. ONGOING MORNING CONVECTION IN ERN KS SHOULD HELP TO GRADUALLY ESTABLISH THIS FRONT FURTHER SOUTH DURING THE DAY. WITH THE APPROACH OF THE TROUGH...BROAD UPPER LEVEL LIFT WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD INTO THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON WITH PLENTIFUL DPVA AND ASSOCIATED UPPER JET STREAK AIDED DIVERGENCE. BEST NET UPPER DIV ENTERS THE PICTURE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO TONIGHT. ALTHOUGH ALL 00Z MODELS CONSISTENT IN STRENGTH/TIMING/POSITIONING OF THIS WAVE...ETA GENERALLY FURTHER SOUTH WITH RAINFALL...WHILE AVN AND NGM NORTH. GOOD RAIN CHANCES CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT WITH 00Z ETA/AVN/NGM ALL IN AGREEMENT WITH UPPER LOW AND PROLONGED LIFT PARKING ACROSS THE CWA THIS EVENING. WILL CONTINUE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WORDING IN NCNTRL KS CWA WITH RICHER THETA-E AIR AND RELATIVELY HIGH PRECIP H20 VALUES OF 1.6 OR GREATER IN PLACE. LINGERING UPPER WAVE/TRAILING DEFORMATION ASSOCIATED PRECIP LOOKS TO CONTINUE INTO AT LEAST FRIDAY MORNING...ESPECIALLY IN ERN CWA. WILL GENERALLY END RAIN FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE AREA BY AFTERNOON... WITH DIMINISHING CLOUDS ACCORDINGLY IN THE AFTERNOON/EVENING. EXCEPTION MIGHT BE IN NCNTRL KS OR FAR ERN NEB CWA...WHERE UPPER LOW WILL BE SLOWEST TO EXIT AND WHERE REMNANT BOUNDARIES/FRONT COULD PROVIDE RAIN FOCUS EVEN INTO FRIDAY NIGHT. BOTH AVN/ETA INDICATE A WEAK COLD FRONT DROPPING THROUGH THE AREA ON SATURDAY IN DEVELOPING NW UPPER FLOW...BUT WILL LIKELY LEAVE DRY FORECAST IN PLACE AT THIS POINT. OTHERWISE...NO CHANGES NEEDED IN THE EXTENDED. .GID...NONE. GUYER
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 23, 10:07 AM CST, 1 hour 53 minutes before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-232200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1107 AM CDT THU AUG 23 2001 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT LIKELY THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS... LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AS THE LOW APPROACHES...THEN BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD THIS EVENING. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE OVER NIGHT. THE WIND FIELD WILL REMAIN WEAK...SO THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS LIMITED. HOWEVER...ISOLATED STORMS MAY REACH SEVERE LEVELS WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT COMING FROM DOWN-BURST WIND AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER. 09
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:58 UTC.
Event by event
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Lightning
- A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, August 23 to 24, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, August 23, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, August 23, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Virginia, August 23, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Virginia, August 23, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Kentucky, August 23, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, August 23, 2001
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, August 23, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in West Virginia, August 23, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Virginia, August 23, 2001
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, August 23, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, August 23, 2001
More
Every storm in Nebraska in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5265762.