Flash Flood in Nebraska, July 16, 2001

Name: Flash Flood in Nebraska, July 16, 2001
Start: 2001-07-16T16:08
End: 2001-07-16T17:21
Location: Nebraska

July 16, 2001 · NWS LBF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $250,000
Crop damage: $100,000
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 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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 16, 1:11 PM CST, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 1:11 PM CST, 2 hours 57 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
211 PM CDT MON JUL 16 2001

MAIN CHALLENGE WILL BE PRECIP CHANCES TONIGHT AND TEMPERATURES ON
TUESDAY.

NO SIGNIFICANT INITIALIZATION DIFFERENCES FOUND ACROSS THE CENTRAL
CONUS BETWEEN THE AVN...ETA AND NGM.  HOWEVER...THE NGM INITIALIZED
TOO HIGH ON 500 MB HEIGHTS WITH WEST COAST TROUGH WHEN COMPARED TO
THE AVN AND ETA.  WILL USE AN AVN/ETA BLEND FOR THIS FORECAST.

SHORT WAVE SEEN ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL CWA WILL
CONTINUE MOVING EAST INTO EASTERN FA DURING THE EARLY EVENING.
HOWEVER...CWA WILL BE UNDER SUBSIDENT REGION OF UPPER JET.  SURFACE
TROUGH WILL BE PRESENT ACROSS EASTERN CWA AS WELL BUT FORCING IS
EXPECTED TO BE VERY WEAK.  OPERATIONAL ETA INDICATES NO PRECIP
TONIGHT BUT THE ETA-KF DEVELOPS ISOLATED CONVECTION FROM HOLT TO
CUSTER COUNTY THROUGH EARLY EVENING.  AT THIS POINT WILL WAIT UNTIL
LAST MINUTE BEFORE DECIDING ON CONVECTIVE CHANCES TONIGHT FOR
EASTERN FA.  TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA LOOK
REASONABLE FOR TONIGHT.

RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD ACROSS AREA TUESDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT.  DEEP
LAYER MOISTURE IS SHOWN TO PUSH INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA SO WILL KEEP
ENTIRE FA DRY.  WITH DRY AIR AND PLENTY OF SUNSHINE EXPECTED VERY
WARM TEMPERATURES LOOK LIKELY WITH 95 TO 100 EXPECTED ACROSS ALL BUT
NORTHEAST CORNER OF CWA.  LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE 60S WEST TO
UPPER 60S EAST LOOK GOOD TUESDAY NIGHT.

AVN AND ETA BEGIN TO DIVERGE ON WEDNESDAY WITH HANDLING OF UPPER
WAVE CURRENTLY SEEN ACROSS BAJA REGION.  AVN KEEPS THIS FEATURE
FAIRLY STRONG ALLOWING SURFACE LOW TO DEEPEN ENOUGH TO BRING DEEPER
MOISTURE BACK INTO AREA.  ETA ON THE OTHER HAND SHEARS THIS FEATURE
OUT LEAVING SURFACE LOW WEAK AND IN THE PROCESS KEEPING DEEPER
MOISTURE AWAY FROM FA.  BELIEVE AVN IS TOO STRONG WITH THIS
FEATURE...GIVEN LIKELY SHEARING THE SHORT WAVE WILL ENCOUNTER OVER
NEXT 36-48 HOURS.  WILL KEEP ALL OF FA DRY WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
NIGHT.  AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES LOOK SIMILAR TO TUESDAY.

EXTENDED...DECENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN MEDIUM RANGE MODELS THROUGH
FRIDAY BUT DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO SHOW UP FROM SATURDAY THROUGH
MONDAY.  BELIEVE MRF IS BREAKING RIDGE DOWN TOO MUCH OVER THE
WEEKEND VERSUS THE ECMWF.  ECMWF LOOKS MUCH CLOSER TO THE MRF
ENSEMBLE MEANS SO WILL LEAN MORE TOWARDS THIS MODEL FOR THE
EXTENDED.  FIRST HALF OF EXTENDED LOOKS HOT AND DRY WITH A POSSIBLE
BOUNDARY STALLING ACROSS AREA LATE SATURDAY INTO MONDAY.  WILL
MENTION PRECIP SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AS WELL AS SLIGHTLY COOLER
TEMPERATURES FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

.LBF...NONE.

AWJ

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 16, 2:22 PM CST, 1 hour 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE, NE
322 PM CDT MON JUL 16 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0310 PM    10 NW NEWPORT             NE   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   ROCK

0318 PM    17 E SPRINGVIEW           NE   1.00 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   KEYA PAHA

DP/RLB

Local storm report, Jul 16, 3:10 PM CST, 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE, NE
410 PM CDT MON JUL 16 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0345 PM    8 WNW NAPER               NE   .88 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   BOYD

0350 PM    5 N NEWPORT               NE   .75 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   ROCK

RLB

Local storm report, Jul 16, 3:29 PM CST, 39 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE, NE
429 PM CDT MON JUL 16 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0420 PM    8 NE STUART               NE   .75 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   HOLT

0420 PM    5 N NEWPORT               NE   .88 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   ROCK

RLB

Local storm report, Jul 16, 3:56 PM CST, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE, NE
456 PM CDT MON JUL 16 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0450 PM    9 NW ATKINSON             NE   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/16/01   HOLT

RLB

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Rock

When: July 16, 4:08 PM CST to 5:21 PM CST
Where: Rock County, 7 mi N of Newport
Property damage: $250,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.421, -99.450 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorms which slowed and began back building across parts of Northern Rock county resulted in flash flooding. Culverts and bridges were washed out as storms began to train with torrential rainfall over a 3.5 hour period. Rainfall up to 8 inches was indicated on the KLNX WSR-88D 3 hour precipitation graphic. The Department of Roads reported a close 7.7 inches of rainfall as of 1630 pm CST. The excessive rains resulted in increased runoff with over 2 feet of water flowing over roadways 7 miles north of Newport, on Highway 137, by 1608 PM CST and water over Highway 20, 8 miles west of Bassett, by 1720 pm CST as thunderstorms redeveloped to the west.

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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, July 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: 5256485.