Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, August 4, 2002
Start: 2002-08-04T18:38
End: 2002-08-04T19:15
Location: Nebraska

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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 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 4, 1:10 PM CST, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 1:10 PM CST, 5 hours 28 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
210 PM CDT SUN AUG 4 2002

POSITION OF SFC BOUNDARY AND RESULTANT POPS ARE THE QN OF THE DAY.
AS OF 18Z...BOUNDARY WAS ANALYZED AS A WARM FRONT RUNNING FROM NR
LXN TO JUST N OF JYR.  18Z TEMPS TO THE S WERE IN THE LOW AND MID
90S F WITH ARND 100 F OVR THE KS CWA.  ALL OCCURRING UNDR AN
ELONGATED RIDGE FM KS ACRS THE OHIO VALLEY...OFFSET BY LOW SPINNING
OVR VANCOUVER ISLAND.

WND FIELD IS WEAK AND MSTR IS PLENTIFUL ON THE SNDINGS.  WITH AFTN
HIGHS NR CONVECTIVE TEMPS...MINIMAL FORCING WL BE NEEDED TO POP SOME
SLOW MOVG +RA PRODUCERS.  THE MORE DIFFICULT QN MAY BE FOR THE
OVRNGT HRS AS THE LACK OF A HEALTHY LLVL JET MAY NOT OVERCOME THE
WARM MID LVLS.  WL FOCUS 1ST PD POPS MORE N AND W WITH THE FRONT
THAN ONGOING FORECAST AND LIMIT KS TO SLGT CHC THIS EVE AS PER DVLPG
CU FIELD DOWN YONDER.

AT ANY RATE...OVRNGT CONVECTION OVR NERN NEB SHOULD BE ENUF TO SHOVE
THE BNDRY SWD AGAIN WITH OUTFLOW TO LIMIT MON HIGH TEMPS FOR THE
EXTREME NRN ZONES...AND PRVD FOCUS FOR EARLY EVE TSRA.  WL ADJUST
MON HIGHS UPWARD BASED ON TDAS EXPERIENCE AND INSERT A SLGT CHC TSRA
FOR THE EVE HRS OVR THOSE NRN ZONES.  LIMITING VARIABLE FOR ANY
HIGHER POPS IS THE BLDG RIDGE/WARMING MID LVL TEMPS AS PER META -4 C
500 MB PROGNOSIS.

MDLS IN GENL AGRMT WITH AMPLIFYING PATN AS LOW DIGS TWD THE PAC NW.
WL BUMP TEMPS UP TO THE 95 TO 100 RANGE OVR THE CWA FOR MUCH OF THE
WEEK AND WL NOT BUY INTO AVN/MRF SOLN OF A STRONG CDFNT BY WEEKS
END.  WL ASSUME THE ECMWF MORE SUMMERTIME SCENARIO OF A NRN PLNS SYS
FOR THIS ISSUANCE WITH WEAK FRONT SAGGING INTO THE NEB ZONES.  WL
INTRO A PCPN MENTION FOR THE NEB CNTIES FOR THE FRI NGT/SAT PDS WITH
ONLY A SLGT COOLING OF TEMPS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

.GID...NONE.

9

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Howard

When: August 4, 6:38 PM CST
Where: Howard County, 5 mi W of St Paul
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.217, -98.567

Thunderstorm Wind, Greeley

When: August 4, 6:50 PM CST
Where: Greeley County, Wolbach
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.400, -98.400

Hail, Valley

When: August 4, 7:15 PM CST
Where: Valley County, 12 mi W of Ord
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 41.600, -99.167

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
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

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: 5314848, 5314849, 5314850.