Hail in Nebraska, August 16, 2002

Name: Hail in Nebraska, August 16, 2002
Start: 2002-08-16T05:55
End: 2002-08-16T09:20
Location: Nebraska

August 16, 2002 · NWS GID · 8 events in 4 counties and zones

Sunrise thunderstorms rumbled across a small part of south-central Nebraska bring heavy rain and mostly dime to quarter size hail. Hail, two inches in diameter, was reported in Genoa.

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: $25,000
Crop damage: $250,000
Events: 8

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.

Sunrise thunderstorms rumbled across a small part of south-central Nebraska bring heavy rain and mostly dime to quarter size hail. Hail, two inches in diameter, was reported in Genoa.

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 Aug 16, 1:28 AM CST, 4 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 1:28 AM CST, 4 hours 27 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
228 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

CHC OF RA WL BE THE CONCERN OF THE DAY WITH STRONG UPR SYS XG SRN BC
THIS MRNG AS PER WATER VAPOR LOOP.  THIS SYS WL X THE NRN PLNS TDA
AND EXERT A HEALTHY DRAW ON MSTR POOLED OVR KS/SRN PLNS.  04Z-06Z
850 MB PROFILERS IND WND HAS ALREADY TRENDED ARND TO THE S AND ARE
CNVRGG MSTR NR THE KS/NEB LINE AS PER LATEST RADAR RTNS.

WL RUN A RA MENTION THRU THIS MRNG FOR ANY SCT SHRA/TSRA WHICH FORM
WITH THE LIFTING WARM FRONT.  OTHERWISE...STRONG WARM ADVCTN IN THE
MID LVLS SHOULD CAP THE CWA BY THIS AFTN...AND INTO THE EVE.  NOT
THE BEST NEWS FOR A DROUGHT STRICKEN AREA...HOWEVER THE HODOGRAPH
EXHIBIT FOR THE REGION IS OF GENEROUS SHEAR...SO ANY STORMS THAT
FORM WOULD HAVE DANGEROUSLY SVR POTENTIAL BY THIS EVE.  CURRENTLY
...THE PRIMARY TARGET AREA LKS TO BE WELL NE OF THE GID CWA AS PER
EXPECTED TRACK OF THE SFC LOW AND WEAKER CAP.

A SLGTLY BETTER RA CHC FOR GID WL COME WITH THE SUPERIOR FORCING
ALNG THE TRAILING CDFNT TNGT.  THE LIMITING FACTOR WL CONT TO BE THE
WARM MID LVLS AS PER MDL SNDINGS...SO POP NMBRS WL NOT BE INCREASED
ABOVE ONGOING SMALL CHC.

OVERALL...MDL SOLNS ARE IN GENL AGRMT WITH PREVIOUS FORECAST...SO
PERSISTENCE WL RULE THIS ISSUANCE.  MINOR ADJUSTMENTS ONLY TO SUN
NGT POPS WHERE PLACEMENT OF FOCUSING BNDRY UNDR ZONAL FLOW RMNS A QN
AS DOES TIMING OF NXT FRONT FOR WED NGT/THU.

GID...NONE.

09

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 16, 3:45 AM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-161200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
445 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION PROBABLY WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH
TONIGHT...

A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
COUNTIES THIS MORNING.  AN UNFAVORABLE WIND FIELD AND WARMING
TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL PREVENT ANY OF THESE STORMS FROM REACHING
SEVERE LEVELS.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE WIND FIELD IN THE ATMOSPHERE WILL IMPROVE AS THE
DAY PROGRESSES...HOWEVER...THE INCREASINGLY WARM TEMPERATURES ALOFT
ARE EXPECTED TO SUPPRESS ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS
AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. SHOULD THIS SITUATION EVOLVE AND STORMS
BREAK OUT THIS EVENING...THEY WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND.  RESIDENTS OF AREAS TO THE NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 80 SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY SENSITIVE TO THIS POSSIBILITY.

FINALLY...THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE
TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND INTO
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE HAIL AND
WIND GUSTS ABOVE SEVERE THRESHOLDS.

RESIDENTS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...AND
ESPECIALLY SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA SHOULD MONITOR THE SITUATION
THIS AFTERNOON...AND BE PREPARED TO ADAPT SHOULD THE POSSIBILITY
OF SEVERE WEATHER ESCALATE.

09

Special weather statement, Aug 16, 5:51 AM CST, 4 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-171200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
651 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT...

A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
COUNTIES THIS MORNING.  A FEW OF THESE MAY BECOME SEVERE NORTH OF A
LINE FROM LOUP CITY TO GRAND ISLAND TO GENEVA.  LARGE HAIL IS THE
PRIMARY SEVERE THREAT.

INCREASINGLY WARM TEMPERATURES ALOFT ARE EXPECTED TO SUPPRESS
ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.
SHOULD THIS SITUATION EVOLVE AND STORMS BREAK OUT THIS EVENING...THEY
WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND DUE TO
HIGH SHEAR IN THE ATMOSPHERIC WIND FIELD.  RESIDENTS OF AREAS TO THE
NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY SENSITIVE TO THIS
POSSIBILITY.

FINALLY...THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE
TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND INTO
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE HAIL AND
WIND GUSTS ABOVE SEVERE THRESHOLDS.

RESIDENTS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...AND
ESPECIALLY SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA SHOULD MONITOR THE SITUATION
THIS AFTERNOON...AND BE PREPARED TO ADAPT SHOULD THE POSSIBILITY
OF SEVERE WEATHER ESCALATE.

09

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Hamilton

When: August 16, 5:55 AM CST
Where: Hamilton County, 6 mi NW of Aurora
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.933, -98.083

Hail, Merrick

When: August 16, 6:05 AM CST
Where: Merrick County, Central City
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.117, -98.000

Hail, Merrick

When: August 16, 6:20 AM CST
Where: Merrick County, Central City
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.117, -98.000

Hail, Nance

When: August 16, 7:05 AM CST
Where: Nance County, Belgrade
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.483, -98.067

Hail, Nance

When: August 16, 7:25 AM CST
Where: Nance County, 7 mi N of Fullerton
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.467, -97.983

Hail, Nance

When: August 16, 7:40 AM CST
Where: Nance County, Genoa
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.450, -97.733

Hail, Nance

When: August 16, 7:55 AM CST
Where: Nance County, Genoa
Measured: 2 in hail
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: $250,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.450, -97.733

Hail, York

When: August 16, 9:20 AM CST
Where: York County, Gresham
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.033, -97.400

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Nebraska in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, August 2002

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: 5314859, 5314860, 5314861, 5314862, 5314863, 5314864, 5314865, 5314866.