Hail and Heavy Rain in Nebraska, July 28, 2002

Name: Hail and Heavy Rain in Nebraska, July 28, 2002
Start: 2002-07-28T14:30
End: 2002-07-28T16:00
Location: Nebraska

July 28, 2002 · NWS GID · 3 events in 2 counties and zones

Heavy rains fell in the Little Blue River Basin southeast of Hastings. The river was dry, but up to 4 inches of rain across southern Clay and northern Nuckolls county replenished the flow.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: $20,000
Crop damage: $200,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

Heavy rains fell in the Little Blue River Basin southeast of Hastings. The river was dry, but up to 4 inches of rain across southern Clay and northern Nuckolls county replenished the flow. The 279 farmers who rely on the river for irrigation could once again draw on the river to water their drought stricken crops.

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 Jul 28, 12:20 PM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 12:20 PM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
120 PM CDT SUN JUL 28 2002

...SVR THREAT THIS AFTN/EVE BIGGEST CONCERN...

SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS TRIPLE POINT LOW NR YKN AND COLD FNT TRAILING SW
TO NR HLC. STILL WAITING FOR STG UPR TROF NOW INTO WRN SD TO CATCH
UP BUT UPR TROF AMPLIFYING NOW AND LEADING TO INTENSIFICATION OF JET
STREAK OVRHD. PREFNTL AIRMASS STILL APPARENTLY WEAKLY CAPPED ATTM BUT
RAPID DESTABILIZATION CONTS W/INITIATION IMMINENT. HWVR BNDRY HAS
PUSHED TO NR A HDE TO ORD LINE. UPSTREAM PRES RISES WOULD SUGGEST NRN
PORTION WILL MAKE FURTHER EWD PROGRESS BUT SRN PORTION SHLD BEGIN TO
TRAIL BEHIND...WHICH MAKES EVENING ZONE CUT DIFFICULT. ELEVATED CONVN
NOT HELPING MATTER EITHER ESPECIALLY WITH RECENT HEAT BURST AT ODX
WHICH MAKES A CASE THAT CAPPING INVERSION IS AS YET TOO STG THIS
FAR S.

12Z MODELS FOR MOST PART SIMILAR WITH EVOLVING SCENARIO. PRIMARY
DIFF IS CONV PLACEMENT LTR THIS AFTN AND EVE. BASED ON 18Z SFC
FTRS...WOULD TEND TO AGAIN FVR ETA/META. STILL DECENT SVR WIND
THREAT ESP NE QUARTER AND WILL BEAR CLSOE WATCHING. HWVR...RAPID
CLEARING XPCD OVERNIGHT AS SYS RAPIDLY SHIFTS EWD. CAA SHALLOW AND
SHORT LIVED WITH WK WAA BY MON AFTN SO JUST A TEMPORARY BREAK FM THE
HEAT. MORE INTERESTING SITU ON TUE. SOME THOUGHTS YDA ABT PCPN CHC LT
TUE OR TUE NIGHT BASED ON ANOTHER TROF ZIPPING THROUGH SEMI-ZONAL NRN
CONUS FLW. ETAX DID INDICATED RATHER HEALTHY QPF YDA AND SHOWS IT
AGAIN LT TUE INTO TUE NIGHT. COMPLICATING FCTR IS TRANSITIONING UPR
FLW BACK TO SIMILAR PATTN OBSERVED A WEEK AGO WITH DOMINANT RIDGE
CNTR OVR CNTRL PLAINS. CURRENT PROGRESSIVE PATTN AND HGT TRANSITION
SIMILAR AMG MED RANGE MODELS. GFS DEPICTION OF COLD FNT PUSHING
INTO SOUTHERN PLAINS UNDERNEATH LG SCALE RIDGE CNTR STILL LOOKS
ERRONEOUS WITH SIG DISCREPANCY BTWN ECMWF/GFS LL THERMAL PROG. GFS
PRIOR COLD BIAS WITH SIMILAR UPR HGT PATTN YIELDED MAX TEMPS 10
DEGREES TOO COOL AND SIMILAR SITU XPCD HERE. AT LEAST ECMWF AND GEM
ARE MUCH MORE REALISTIC WRT TEMP PROG. THEREFORE WILL CONT WITH MUCH
WARMER TEMPS. IN ADDITION...THU SLIGHT CHC POP NOT WARRANTED GIVEN
LACK OF SUPPORTING GFS ENS MEMBERS. BOTTOM LINE IS EXPECTATIONS OF
RTN TO HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS ONCE AGAIN TO CWA.

.GID...NONE.

TEH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 28, 10:17 AM CST, 4 hours 13 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-291200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1117 AM CDT SUN JUL 28 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING...

A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TREKKING ACROSS CENTRAL NEBRASKA
ALONG A COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY...WILL BECOME MORE ORGANIZED AND
INTENSE AS THEY MOVE EAST THIS AFTERNOON. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED TO INITIATE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY EAST
OF A LINE FROM GREELEY TO HOLDREGE AS STORMS MOVE INTO A MORE
MOIST AND UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER HAZARDS WILL
BE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS...AND MODERATE TO LARGE SIZE HAIL.
THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL THEN CONTINUE SOUTHEAST DURING THE
LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS.

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO DEVELOP IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS
AFTERNOON. ACTIVITY THOUGH SHOULD REMAIN RATHER DISORGANIZED...UNTIL
THE MAIN LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVES INTO THE AREA BY EVENING.

SPOTTER GROUPS...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND OTHER INTERESTED
PARTIES OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS SHOULD
MONITOR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER UPDATED FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS.

DEE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:16 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy rain, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Clay

When: July 28, 2:30 PM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Clay County, Countywide
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.524, -98.051 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Nuckolls

When: July 28, 2:30 PM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Nuckolls County, Countywide
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.176, -98.047 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, Clay

When: July 28, 3:15 PM CST
Where: Clay County, 5 mi E of Deweese
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.350, -98.033

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
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, July 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: 5314410, 5314411, 5314412.