Name: Hail and Heavy Rain in Nebraska, September 14, 2001
Start: 2001-09-14T16:25
End: 2001-09-14T19:00
Location: Nebraska

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $1.0 million
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 severe thunderstorm dumped heavy rain and hail in southeast Furnas county during the late afternoon and early evening hours of September 14. An area about 3 miles north of Beaver City received up to six inches of rain. Drifts of dime size hail were common in this localized area. Significant crop damage and erosion occurred. Minor flooding was reported on nearby county roads, primarily due to hail and debris runoff blocking ditches and drainage pipes.

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 Sep 14, 1:40 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 14, 1:40 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
240 PM CDT FRI SEP 14 2001

MAIN BODY OF PCPN THAT FELL OVER CWA EARLIER THIS MORNING CURRENTLY
MAKING ITS WAY EAST IA. MORE SHOWER ACTIVITY IS DEVELOPING WITHIN THE
CWA MAINLY FROM THE ORD AREA TO JUST EAST OF MCCOOK. PROBABLY DUE
IN PART TO WAA OVER THE AREA. AREAS SOUTH INTO KS APPEAR TO HAVE
LESS CLOUD COVER PER VIS SATL PAX...AIDING WITH THE DIFFERENTIAL
HEATING. MEANWHILE...IMAGES FROM WATER VAPOR SATL PIX SHOW THE WAVE
THAT MOVED THRU NRN NEB EARLIER THIS MORNING. TO THE WEST...UNUSUALLY
STRONG RIDGING IS ENTRENCHED OVER THE PAC NW AND AREA NORTH. DRY
SLOT WORKING ITS WAY ACROSS CENTRAL ROCKIES MAY TEMPORARILY CUT OFF
SUB TROPICAL MOISTURE INTO THE PLAINS. AT THE SURFACE...LARGE HIGH
PRESSURE DOMINATES MOST OF THE PLAINS AND AREAS EAST. THE HIGH
PRESSURE CENTER WAS LOCATED NEAR THE GREAT LAKES REGION.

PCPN CHANCES TO BE THE MAIN CONCERN FOR THIS PACKAGE. STRONG MID
LEVEL WAA AND ADVANCING DPVA INTO MOIST AIR MASS SUGGESTS SHOWERS A
GOOD BET TONIGHT. LIFT BEING ENHANCE VIA UPPER LEVEL DIRECTIONAL
DIVERGENCE PROGGED OVER NEB AT 06Z. SO GOING FCST LOOKS GOOD. LIFT
TREKS EAST OVERNIGHT AND WE SHOULD SEE LINGERING SHOWERS AFTER
DAYBREAK SATURDAY.

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...PCPN SMALL PCPN CHANCES EXIST FROM WAA
LIFT AND RIPPLES MOVING THRU THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW.

SUNDAY NIGHT THE AVN PROGS A RATHER IMPRESSIVE ELONGATED VORT MAX
JUST NORTH OF THE AREA. PROGGED OMEGA INCREASES DRAMATICALLY BY 06Z
MON. MID LEVEL WAA STILL PROGGED TO OCCUR AT THAT TIME. STILL A
WAYS OUT THOUGH SO WILL ONLY COVER WITH 40% POPS.

NO MAJOR CHANGES TO DAYS 4-7.

GID...NONE.

DEE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 14, 11:05 AM CST, 5 hours 20 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-142100-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1205 PM CDT FRI SEP 14 2001

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA OR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT...

ALTHOUGH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD ONCE AGAIN
BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE
WEATHER IS MINIMAL. PERSISTENT CLOUD COVER ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION
WILL KEEP THE ATMOSPHERE SOMEWHAT STABLE. THE BEST CHANCE FOR AN
ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL EXIST TO THE SOUTHWEST OF HOLDREGE
AND PHILLIPSBURG...WHERE LIMITED SUNSHINE WILL LEAD TO MARGINALLY
UNSTABLE CONDITIONS.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERSIST INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS
AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WORKS EAST THROUGH THE REGION. WITH THESE
STORMS WILL COME THE THREAT OF LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY
OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA.

GURNEY

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Furnas

When: September 14, 4:25 PM CST
Where: Furnas County, 3 mi N of Beaver City
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.200, -99.833

Heavy Rain, Furnas

When: September 14, 4:25 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Furnas County, 3 mi N of Beaver City
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $1.0 million
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 40.177, -99.912 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, September 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: 5269426, 5269427.