3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 25, 11:50 AM MST, 6 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 150 PM CDT WED JUL 25 2001 FORECAST CHALLENGE WILL BE POPS TONIGHT AND TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE PERIOD... WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING A UPPER LOW SPINNING IN SERN CA WITH A BAND OF TSRA LIFTS NORTHEAST FROM CENTRAL AZ. MOISTURE PLUME EXTENDS TOWARD NRN COLORADO. 12Z UA ANALYSIS SHOWS IMPRESSIVE H85 DEWPOINTS AOA 15C FROM WRN NEBR INTO SWRN SD AND AN H85 TROUGH EXTENDING FROM NEAR GLD KS TO JUST WEST OF RAP SD. A WEAK WAVE ANALIZED THROUGH CENTRAL WY. AT THE SURFACE...WEAK HIGH PRESSURE OF ERN NEBR WITH A WEAK LOW IN ERN WY. TSRA CONPLEX OVER SD HAS PUSHES A MESO HIGH INTO SWRN SD AND AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY SOUTH THROUGH DOUGLAS WY TO CUSTER SD. STRATUS OVER THE ERN CWFA ERODING QUICKLY. BEST WAA IN THE NW WHERE TEMPS 90 AT CDR AND IEN SD AT 18Z WITH SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH. THE ETA...AVN AND NGM ALL AGREE THAT WIDESPREAD CONVECTION WITH HOLD OFF FOR THE FIRST 36 HRS. ALL MODEL ARE PICKING UP ON A VORT MAX ORIGINATIN IN WRN NM WHICH WILL ROUND THE UPPER RIDGE AND INTO NEBR THU NIGHT AND FRIDAY. THE FIRST 36 HRS DOESN'T INDICATE ANY H5 VORT LOBES THROUGH NEBR. THIS WOULD FAVOR BOUNDARIES FOR CONVECTIVE INITIATION AS THE MAIN FOCUSING MECHANISM. POPS TONIGHT AND THURSDY WILL BE LOW MOST AREAS. SEVERE CONCERN TONIGHT WILL FOCUS IN THE NWRN CWFA. 0-6KM WIND SHEAR VECTORS SHOWING 45 KTS ALONG WITH 20 KT SERLY H85 WIND. WILL GO WITH 40 POPS SHERIDAN AND GARDEN COUNTIES AND 30 EAST TO VALENTINE. WILL LOWER POPS IN THE NORTHEAST AS CONVECTION OUT TO THE WEST WILL LIKELY NOT REACH THE EAST BEFORE DYING OUT. REST OF FCST TONIGHT LOOKS ON TRACK WITH LOW CLOUDS ONCE AGAIN FORMING ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF A BBW OT OGA LINE WHERE WINDS ARE MOST ESERLY AND CONTINUE THROUGH MOST OF THE MORNING. THURSDAY...FEEL THE AVN IS TOO FAST WITH VORT MAX MOVING IN ON THUR. IN ADDITION LARGE AREA OF STRATUS WILL STABILIZE MUCH OF THE AREA FOR THE BALANCE OF THE DAY. FAVORING THE SLOWER ETA OVER THE AVN AND NGM WILL KEEP AFTN POPS FAR SOUTHWEST AND THE NORTHWEST AS 650MB VORTICITY MOVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS SOUTH DAKOTA AND A SECOND VORT MAX MOVES NOTTHEAST FROM NORTHEAST COLORADO INTO SWRN NEBR. HIGHS WILL BE HINDERED BY DEGREE OF STRATUS EROSION. HI RES ETA FCSTS HIGH AROUND 85 ALL OF CWFA BUT WILL GO A LITTLE COOLER WITH A BLEND OF THE FAN AND FWC. THURSDAY NIGHT...ETA..AVN AND NGM INDICATE THE VORT MAX MOVES THROUGH WITH AN H5 TROUGH MOVING ACROSS. RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF H25 JET TO PROVIDE GOOD UPPER DIVERENCE OVER NEBRASKA. BASED ON MODEL AGREEMENT WILL BOOST POPS TO 40 ALL AREAS. FRIDAY...AS INITIAL UPPER TROUGH EXITS...A SECOND MOVES IN WHICH ORIGINATED AS THE UPPER LOW IN SERN CALIF. CHC POPS THROUGHOUT THE DAY WITH HIGHEST POPS EAST AND LOWEST IN THE NORTHWEST. WILL GO WITH A BLEND OF THE FAN AND FWC FOR HIGHS AS THEY ARE IN CLOSE AGREEMENT. FRIDAY NIGHT...H7 TO H5 LAPSE RATES ARE AROUND 7.5C/KM AS THE UPPER TROUGH MOVES SOUTHEAST OF AREA. A SLIGHT CHC OF EVENING TSRA WEST AND OVERNIGHT FOR THE EAST. EXTENDED...UPPER RIDGE AXIS MOVES ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PLAINS SAT AND SUNDAY WITH CHCS FOR TSRA WELL TO OUR NORTH. ON MONDAY THE 12Z AVN OUT TO 120 HRS SHOWS THE UPPER RIDGE CENTER LIFTING NORTH INTO CENTRAL KS. CONTINUED DRY AND WILL REMOVE POPS FOR MONDAY BASE ON 12Z AVN AND 24/12 ECMWF RUN. PROVIDED UPPER RIDGE PUSHES SOUTHEAST AS PROJECTED BY THE MRF... A SWRLY FLOW WILL SETUP ALOFT WITH CHCS FOR TSRA TUES AND WED AS A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES RIDES THE UPPER FLOW. HIGHS TUES AND WED SHOULD EASE BACK INTO THE UPPER 70S TO MID 80S NORTH AND 80S SOUTH AS UPPER HEIGHTS LOWER AND PAC HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. .LBF...NONE. ROBERG
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:23 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Siding on a house was damaged and windows were broken. Several large tree limbs were down.
A tornado touched down 2 miles southeast of Merriman and moved southeast to 7 miles south of Eli before lifting. Trees were uprooted and windows were broken out of a house. Extensive damage was done to popcorn crops and alfalfa hay fields. Nine center pivot irrigation systems were destroyed. A stretch of power lines was snapped off along highway 20 and also along a road south of Eli as the tornado moved southeast.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2001Warnings in Nebraska, July 2001
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: 5255317, 5255318, 5255382, 5255319, 5255379, 5255380, 5255381.