Name: Heavy Rain in Nebraska, August 24, 2002
Start: 2002-08-24T06:00
End: 2002-08-24T10:00
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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Events: 1

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.

Welcome, but extremely heavy, early morning rains totaled up to 5 inches near Elm Creek. Minor flooding of county roads was noted as was about 6 inches of water over U.S. Highway 30.

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 24, 1:39 AM CST, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 24, 1:39 AM CST, 4 hours 21 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
239 AM CDT SAT AUG 24 2002

RAIN CHANCES THROUGH TONIGHT THE MAIN CHALLENGE.

CURRENT SURFACE MAP DEPICTS ONE FRONT NEAR THE KS/OK BORDER...WITH
ANOTHER DISCONTINUITY OF SOME TYPE ACROSS NORTHERN NEBRASKA.
CONVECTION TO THE NORTH HAS GENERALLY SLID EAST ALONG THAT BOUNDARY
WHILE OUR CWFA REMAINS DRY. HOWEVER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS PLENTIFUL
ACROSS THE CWFA EARLY TODAY.

STRONG SHORTWAVE MOVING EAST FROM COLORADO IS ALREADY THE FOCUS FOR
CONVECTION IN EASTERN COLORADO UP TO NEAR SIDNEY. THERE IS A
GENERAL INCREASE IN COVERAGE AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE. THIS SEEMS TO BE
ON TARGET PER LATEST RUC AND JUST PREVIOUS THINKING. HOW FAR EAST
WILL THINGS DEVELOP? IMPRESSIVE COUPLED JET APPEARS TO BE STRONG
COMPLEMENT FOR RAINFALL TODAY IN THE CWFA...MAXIMIZED FROM LATE
MORNING TO EARLY EVENING (SOUTH). CORFIDI VECTORS SUGGEST EASTWARD
MOVEMENT OF PANHANDLE CONVECTION THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON...THEN THE
TURN SOUTHEAST TOWARD CENTRAL KANSAS. OUTFLOW WORKING INTO NORTHWEST
CWFA CURRENTLY MAY BE THE BOUNDARY NEEDED TO ENHANCE CONVECTION
TO RIDE EAST TODAY AND INTO BETTER MOISTURE. WILL CONTINUE WITH
LIKELY POPS SOUTHWEST CWFA AND CHANCE POPS TO THE EAST. AS
MENTIONED...MAIN TIME FRAME APPEARS TO BE LATE MORNING TO ABOUT 00Z.
FORECAST LAPSE RATES UNIMPRESSIVE AND SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY LIBEL
TO VERY LITTLE WITH COPIOUS CLOUD COVER. BETTER ELEVATED INSTABILITY
EVEN REMAINS WEST. SEVERE WEATHER SEEMS UNLIKELY OR AT LEAST VERY
ISOLATED IN OUR CWFA ATTM. CONTINUED THE THEME OF LINGERING RAINFALL
SOUTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING BEFORE LETTING UP. SOME CLEARING
OVERNIGHT MAY LEAD TO PATCHY FOG NORTHERN ZONES BUT WILL FOREGO ATTM.
DRY DAY SUNDAY WITH SEASONAL TEMPERATURES. ETA ATTEMPTS AT OVERNIGHT
CONVECTION SUNDAY NIGHT...BUT WILL SETTLE FOR SOME CLOUDS TO INCREASE
UNTIL SOME CONTINUITY IS ESTABLISHED.

NO MAJOR CHANGES TO DAYS 4 THROUGH 7.

.GID...NONE.

MORITZ

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 24, 4:45 AM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-251200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
545 AM CDT SAT AUG 24 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT...

A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND A FAVORABLE JET STREAM
PATTERN...WILL LEAD TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS TODAY. THE RISK OF
SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS TO BE LIMITED...MAINLY DUE TO MARGINAL
INSTABILITY PARAMETERS. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCASIONALLY BE
SEVERE...WITH THE MAIN HAZARD HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER.
THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL IN EXCESS
OF ONE INCH...AT LEAST ON A LOCALIZED BASIS.

THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY WILL BECOME MORE ORGANIZED BY EARLY
EVENING...AND MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO CENTRAL KANSAS. PORTIONS OF NORTH
CENTRAL KANSAS WILL HAVE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY EARLY THIS EVENING
FOR A FEW STORMS WHICH MAY BE SEVERE. HAIL AND STRONG WINDS WOULD BE
THE MAIN HAZARD...BUT WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED.

MORITZ

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Buffalo

When: August 24, 6:00 AM CST to 10:00 AM CST
Where: Buffalo County, 10 mi NW of Elm Creek
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.855, -99.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

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 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: 5314882.