Hail, Osborne
- When
- May 26, 4:59 PM CST
- Where
- Osborne County, Natoma
- Measured
- 1.25 in hail
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Crop damage
- $1.0 million
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 39.183, -99.017
Thunderstorms exited southern Nebraska and spread south across northern Kansas. Most storms produced winds around 60 mph and hail up to the size of golf balls.
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 episode as NWS GID wrote it up.
Thunderstorms exited southern Nebraska and spread south across northern Kansas. Most storms produced winds around 60 mph and hail up to the size of golf balls. One storm packed winds in excess of 80 mph around the Portis and Harlan areas. The winds blew over 70 empty train cars and caused extensive crop damage. A passenger in a truck traveling along U.S. Highway 281 was struck by a piece of wood that flew into the window. The man was transported to a local hospital then airlifted to a Wichita hospital for additional treatment. Many areas, especially in Smith and Jewell counties, reported crops as a total loss. The damage in Jewell county was described as being destroyed to "table top" status. Tree limbs, power poles and farm outbuildings were damaged in many locations in the region. Some buildings in Smith Center and Downs sustained damage and windows were broken in Phillipsburg.
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 May 26, 11:53 AM CST, 5 hours 6 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1253 PM CDT SUN MAY 26 2002 ...FIRST AND FOREMOST CONCERN IS STORM CHC/S THIS AFTN/TONIGHT AND THREAT FOR SVR... LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS EARNEST MSTR TRANSPORT INTO CNTRL/SW NE ON NOSE OF STG LL SRLY FLOW INADV OF UPPER TROF SITUATED ALG NE/SD BORDER AND ASSOCD/SFC TROF OVR NRN NE. PREFNTL AIRMASS ALREADY QUITE UNSTABLE AND SEEMINGLY PRIMED FOR CONV INITIATION COME LT AFTN. BEST MSTR FLUX CONCURRENT WITHIN AREA OF BTR PRES FALLS ALG A HLC TO BBW LINE W/ INCREASING ACCAS FIELD INVOF SFC RIPPLE AND UPPER WV VCNTY VTN. SO IT SEEMS STORMS SHLD INITIATE SOMEWHERE N OF BBW OVR TO ONL AND SWWD ALG DRYLINE ARND 300 PM...SIMILAR TO ETA/META PROG...AND DEVELOPMENT SWWD ALG SFC THETA GRADIENT. NOCTURNAL LL JET INCREASE INTO SC NE THIS EVENING WILL LIKELY AIDE IN MCS DVLPMNT OVR NE HALF OF CWA...SOMEWHAT FURTHER WWD THEN YDA/S MODEL PROGS AND THEN A PROPAGATION E/SE INTO NE KS LATE. OTHERWISE...APPEARS DRYLINE WILL REMAIN OUTSIDE CWA WRN BORDER AND HAVE LTL ACTIVITY ASSOCD/W IT HERE BUT WILL BEAR MONITORING. DEEP LYR SHEAR ALTHOUGH NOT IMPRESSIVE MORE THEN ENOUGH IN TANDEM W/MODERATE INSTABILITY TO SUSTAIN UPDRAFTS W/SIG DIRECTIONAL COMPONENT COMBINED W/MID LVL DRYNESS MAKES FOR MODEST LG HAIL THREAT. FOR MON...APPEARS ANY LINGERING STORMS... RESIDUAL CLD DEBRIS AND LG SCALE SUBSIDENCE WILL SUBSEQUENTLY KEEP RENEWED STORM THREAT AT BAY UNTIL MON NIGHT IN ASSOCN/W NXT UPSTREAM UPPER TROF OVR WA ATTM. GOING TEMPS FOR MON WILL NEED CONSIDERABLE MODIFICATION DOWNWARD GIVEN ABV EXPECTATIONS. AFT THAT...APPEARS LG SCALE HGT RISES AND SRN STREAM SPLIT CUTOFF LOW MIGRATING THRU SRN PLAINS WILL PRETTY MUCH PRECLUDE ANY PRECIP MENTION THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK AS TEMPS WARM TO SUMMER LIKE LEVELS W/TUE PD STILL UNCERTAIN AT THIS POINT AND THEREBY NECESSITATING KEEPING THE GOING POPS THEN. .GID...NONE. TEH
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-262300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1145 AM CDT SUN MAY 26 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT... THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...SOUTH WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BRING INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE INTO THE REGION THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON...WITH THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT BECOMING POSSIBLE BY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING...AS A WEAK COLD FRONT NEAR THE BORDER REGION OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND NEBRASKA SLOWLY MOVES SOUTHEAST. IN ADDITION...A MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE THAT KICKED A FEW SHOWERS OFF THIS MORNING...WILL BE LOCATED OVER THE EASTERN THIRD OF NEBRASKA...DOWN THROUGH CENTRAL KANSAS...AND WILL ALSO HELP FOCUS THUNDERSTORM INITIATION. THUNDERSTORMS IN THE FORECAST AREA ARE LIKELY TO FIRST DEVELOP NORTH OF GREELEY COUNTY AFTER 2 PM...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS BEING THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREATS...ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION...ESPECIALLY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BUILD TO THE SOUTHWEST...WITH MOVEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL STORMS TO THE EAST AT AROUND 25 MPH. INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR SUGGEST THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER TO CONTINUE EAST OF HIGHWAY 281 THROUGH AROUND 2 AM. ANOTHER AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE NEAR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING...AS A WEAK DRYLINE MOVING EAST OUT OF THE COLORADO HIGH PLAINS...PUSHES INTO VERY MOIST UNSTABLE AIR. AGAIN... THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE FROM LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. THESE STORMS SHOULD MOVE EAST OF THE REGION BY 10 PM.
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-271000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 501 PM CDT SUN MAY 26 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE NEEDED ACROSS PARTS OF THE AREA THROUGH THIS EVENING... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA UNTIL 800 PM CDT...FOR AREAS ALONG AND WEST OF A GREELEY TO ALMA LINE. SOUTH WINDS LATE THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TO BRING INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE INTO THE REGION THROUGH THE EVENING...WITH INCREASING INSTABILITY AIDING CONTINUED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ALONG AND WEST OF A GREELEY TO HOLDREGE LINE. SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL CONTAIN LARGE HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLFBALLS AND PERHAPS A FEW DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. A DEVELOPING LOW LEVEL JET THIS EVENING WILL ALLOW STORMS OVER NORTHERN NEBRASKA TO DEVELOP SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING TOWARDS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS MAINLY AFTER 700 PM. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THESE STORMS LATER THIS EVENING...FOR AREAS WEST OF THE US 81 CORRIDOR.
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:57 UTC.
17 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, May 2002
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: 5302276, 5302277, 5302278, 5302279, 5302281, 5302280, 5302282, 5302343, 5302344, 5302345, 5302346, 5302347, 5302348, 5302349, 5302350, 5302351, 5302352, 5302353, 5303136, 5303137, 5303138, 5303139, 5303140, 5303141.