Tornado and Damaging Wind in Nebraska, July 18, 2001

Name: Tornado and Damaging Wind in Nebraska, July 18, 2001
Start: 2001-07-18T17:44
End: 2001-07-18T18:04
Location: Nebraska

July 18, 2001 · NWS GID · 2 events in 1 county or zone

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: $60,000
Crop damage: $105,000
Events: 2

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 rural Hubbell man escaped injury by diving into a storage shed as a tornado approached. The tornado set down just before 7 pm CDT and destroyed about half of the building the man looked to for shelter. Fortunately, he was not in the destroyed portion of the building. The tornado set down for about 2 miles, but did little more than tree damage after hitting the farm.

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 Jul 18, 12:50 PM CST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 12:50 PM CST, 4 hours 54 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
150 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

MAIN CONCERN IS THUNDER POTENTIAL TONIGHT AND THE CONTINUING HEAT.

REGIONAL RADAR MOSAIC THIS AFTERNOON CONTINUES TO SHOW WDLY
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAINTAINING THEMSELVES IN AREA
OF STRONG INSTABILITY AND MID LEVEL WAA LIFT...MOSTLY SOUTH OF I-
80. STORMS ARE INTENSIFYING AS THEY MOVE EAST INTO RICHER MOISTURE.
MEANWHILE...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY CONTINUES TO SHOW THE NON-
PROGRESSIVE PATTERN OF THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE DOME OVER THE
CENTRAL STATES WITH ACCOMPANYING TROFS ON EITHER SIDE. THE MAIN
UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER ALBERTA  CONTINUES TO EJECT A SERIES OF VORTS
OUT OF THE GREAT BASIN AND INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. AT THE SAME
TIME AMPLE MOISTURE CONTINUES TO STREAM NORTHEASTWARD OUT OF THE SUB-
TROPICS REGION. AT THE SFC...LOW PRESSURE WAS SITUATED OVER SD WITH
A STALLED BOUNDARY CUTTING THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS INTO THE
OHIO VALLEY...AND TO THE EAST COAST. A COOL FRONTAL BOUNDARY WAS
APPARENT EAST OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES IN EASTERN MT/WY.

THE ETA IS SUGGESTING THAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONVECTIVE COMPLEX
IS PLAUSIBLE THIS EVENING OVER NORTHERN SECTIONS OF NEB. LOW LEVEL
GEOSTROPHIC WINDS TAKE A CYCLONIC TURN WITHIN A SMALL AREA OF 850MB
FRONTOGENESIS BETWEEN 00Z & 06Z IN THE VICINITY OF VTN...
SUGGESTING INITIATION CLOSE TO THAT LOCATION. AS STORMS ORGANIZE
OVERNIGHT WITH THE STRENGTHENING OF THE LOW LEVEL JET...CORFIDI
VECTORS INDICATE MOVEMENT EAST THEN SOUTHEAST. AT THIS POINT...AM
INCLINED TO GO WITH SMALL POPS...30 OR 40% CAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF
STORMS WILL BREACH NORTHERN CWA.

OTHERWISE...THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY SAGA CONTINUES. TEMPS TONIGHT
PROBABLY WON'T JUSTIFY AN ADVISORY...BUT ONE WILL MOST LIKELY BE
NEEDED TOMORROW AND FRIDAY AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONTINUES TO SHOOT
NORTHWARD AND THE UNPROGRESSIVE UPPER LEVEL HIGH REMAINS IN PLACE.

NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED.

.GID...NONE.

DEE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 18, 3:30 PM CST, 2 hours 14 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-190000-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
430 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING ACROSS PARTS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE EARLY THIS
EVENING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. WITH TEMPERATURES TOPPING
100 DEGREES...AND DEWPOINTS NEAR 65 DEGREES...THE ATMOSPHERE HAS
BECOME VERY UNSTABLE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. LITTLE TO NO
INHIBITION TO THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS IN PLACE...AS LOW LEVEL
WIND FIELDS CONVERGE ACROSS THE AREA.

THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP AND MOST EAST ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS...ON A SCATTERED BASIS THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY SEVERE
WEATHER THREAT WILL BE DOWNBURST WINDS...AND HAIL IN EXCESS OF ONE
INCH IN DIAMETER. AN ISOLATED TORNADO CAN NOT BE RULE OUT BEFORE
SUNSET. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN POSTED FOR NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS UNTIL 10 PM. POCKETS OF HEAVY WILL FALL WITH THE STRONGEST
STORMS.

ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA...THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO FORECAST
TONIGHT...WITH AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM POSSIBLE. THE ATMOSPHERE
IS VERY UNSTABLE...BUT CAPPED SLIGHTLY MORE THAN AREAS FURTHER
SOUTH. THUNDERSTORMS WHICH MANAGE TO DEVELOP...WOULD LIKELY BE
SEVERE. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY THREAT.
AGAIN...AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE BEFORE SUNSET.

MORITZ

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:41 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Thayer

When: July 18, 5:44 PM CST
Where: Thayer County, Hubbell
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.017, -97.500

Tornado, Thayer

When: July 18, 5:58 PM CST to 6:04 PM CST
Where: Thayer County, 3 mi NE of Hubbell
Rating: F1
Path length: 2 mi
Path width: 40 yd
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 40.050, -97.467

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
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

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Nebraska, 2001 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: 5262714, 5262715.