A cold front sagging south into a very unstable airmass was the trigger for severe thunderstorms which produced two tornadoes and some hail across the region. Within an hour of the initial thunderstorm development, the first tornado set down southwest of Saronville in Clay county.
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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 episode as NWS GID wrote it up.
A cold front sagging south into a very unstable airmass was the trigger for severe thunderstorms which produced two tornadoes and some hail across the region. Within an hour of the initial thunderstorm development, the first tornado set down southwest of Saronville in Clay county. This rope-like tornado was witnessed by many people, including numerous storm chasers, in Clay county. The tornado drifted slowly south across farmland and damaged two pivots and did some minor crop damage.The second tornado, which was rated an F3, was on the ground for about 30 minutes. The tornado basically followed state highway 74 from north of Edgar in southeast Clay county, to northwest of Shickley in far southwest Fillmore county. Along its path, 14 irrigation pivots were destroyed, at least 15 grain bins were lost and two farmsteads sustained extensive damage. One farmhouse was deemed a total loss, while another incurred broken windows, damaged siding and minor roof damage. Over 10,000 acres of corn and soybeans suffered an average yield loss of 30 percent.
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 22, 12:50 PM CST, 5 hours 17 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 150 PM CDT SAT SEP 22 2001 THIS PACKAGE APPEARS FAIRLY STRAIGHT FORWARD WITH THE MAIN CHALLENGES BEING PREFRONTAL CONVECTION THIS EVENING...AND TEMPERATURES MONDAY MORNING. 18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS PLACES THE COLD FRONT NEAR A HON-ONL-BBW-MCK- PUB LINE AND ADVANCING EASTWARD AT A GOOD RATE. 60+ DEW POINTS WERE POOLED JUST EAST OF THE BOUNDARY. SATELLITE AND SURFACE REPORTS HAD A MID CLOUD MASS EAST OF THE UPPER TROF. THE CLOUDS WERE PUTTING THE DAMPER ON HEATING AND WILL LIKELY INHIBIT CONVECTION TO SOME DEGREE. MODELS IN AGREEMENT CHASING THE FRONT THROUGH GID CWA THIS EVENING. SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ZONES MAY CATCH SOME STORMS UNTIL ABOUT 03Z. SPC SLIGHT RISK LOOKS OK BUT LACK OF HEATING MAY KEEP STORMS FROM BECOMING SEVERE. FORECAST LOOKS FAIRLY SIMPLE AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE. INCREASING SURFACE WIND, CLEARING WITH HIGH PRESSURE SUBSIDENCE AND STRONG COLD ADVECTION WILL SET IN. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FEATURED ON ETA TIME HEIGHT IS A CONCERN. STRENGTH OF COLD ADVECTION AND RESIDUAL MOISTURE POINT TOWARD COLD AIR ST OR SC AT LEAST SUNDAY MORNING. EXPECT THE LOW CLOUDS TO HOLD TEMPERATURES BELOW FWC TOMORROW. FOCUS THEN SHIFTS TO THE CLEARING SKY, LIGHT WINDS AND COLD H85 TEMPERATURES THAT COULD RESULT IN THE FIRST FROST OF THE SEASON MONDAY MORNING. FAN LOOKS A BIT COOL, BUT COULD BE ON THE MARK IF LOW CLOUDS HOLD MOST OF SUNDAY. EXTENDED THROUGH WEDNESDAY LOOKS BENIGN WITH OMEGA BLOCK IN PLACE. AVN, MRF AND CANADIAN MODELS PUSH A STRONG UPPER LOW INTO THE BLOCK AND THEN ONTO THE PLAINS THURSDAY. UK AND ENSEMBLE DISAGREE ON THIS FEATURE. FEEL A CHANCE FOR TSTMS THU NIGHT INTO FRI IS THE BEST CHOICE BASED PRIMARILY ON THE 120 HR AVN FCST. .GID...NONE. SCHURR
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-230200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 428 PM CDT SAT SEP 22 2001 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING... A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE...ROUGHLY EXTENDING FROM FULLERTON TO GRAND ISLAND TO HOLDREGE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...WILL GRADUALLY PROGRESS EASTWARD ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING. AHEAD OF THIS BOUNDARY...PEEKS OF AFTERNOON SUNSHINE AND PLENTIFUL MOISTURE HAS ALLOWED A MODERATELY UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT TO TAKE SHAPE ACROSS THE AREA...ESPECIALLY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND THOSE AREAS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. AHEAD OF THE ADVANCING TROUGH...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN AREAS GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 281 EARLY THIS EVENING. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WITH STORMS THIS EVENING WOULD BE LARGE HAIL...AND TO A LESSER EXTENT DAMAGING WINDS. IN ADDITION...AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE AS WELL...NAMELY IN THE VICINITY OF REMNANT OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM THUNDERSTORMS EARLIER TODAY ACROSS FAR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION THIS EVENING SHOULD THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP AND APPROACH YOUR AREA. GUYER
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:07 UTC.
3 tornado, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A short path tornado reported by storm chasers
Tornado exited Clay county and entered Fillmore county.
Tornado entered Fillmore county from Clay county.
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, September 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: 5269492, 5269493, 5269494, 5269495, 5269851, 5269852.