High Wind in Nebraska, May 21, 2002

Name: High Wind in Nebraska, May 21, 2002
Start: 2002-05-21T15:00
End: 2002-05-21T15:00
Location: Nebraska

May 21, 2002 · NWS GID · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong winds with the passage of a cold front kicked up dust from plowed fields across Phelps county. Wind gusts to 50 mph were common and resulted in blowing dust.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 5
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: None recorded
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.

Strong winds with the passage of a cold front kicked up dust from plowed fields across Phelps county. Wind gusts to 50 mph were common and resulted in blowing dust. A seven vehicle accident occurred 2 miles east of Loomis on Highway 23. Dust from fields south of the highway was producing poor visibility when the chain-reaction accident occurred.

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 May 21, 1:00 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 21, 1:00 PM CST, 2 hours before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
200 PM CDT TUE MAY 21 2002

...WINDS AND TEMPS TODAY FOLLOWED BY TSTM CHCS WED ARE THE MAIN
CONCERNS...

PICS FROM SPACE SHOWING TWO MAIN AREAS WORTH LOOKING AT RIGHT
NOW...WITH LOW TO MID LVL CLOUDS OVER CENTRAL AND EASTERN CWA
ERODING AWAY AS WINDS PICK UP...AND HIGH LVL CLOUDS MOVING IN FROM
THE WEST AHEAD OF NEXT MID/UPR TROUGH. WINDS 20 TO 25 KTS WITH GUSTS
TO 35 KT OVER EASTERN CWA...AND 30 TO 35 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 KT
OVER WESTERN CWA LOOK TO FIT WITH PREVIOUS FORECAST WELL. THE
PRESSURE GRADIENT IS RUNNING FROM 20 TO 22 MB FROM ONE SIDE OF THE
STATE TO THE OTHER...BETWEEN HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE OHIO RIVER
VALLEY AND DEVELOPING STRONG LOW PRESSURE OVER WYOMING. SOUTHEAST
WINDS RUNNING 35 TO 45 KT HAVE MIXED DOWN...AND WILL CONTINUE
OVERNIGHT INTO WED MORNING WITH STRONG 60 TO 70 KT LL JET STREAK
NEAR OR JUST SOUTH OF CWA BY 3 AM. THIS FEATURE WILL ALLOW THE
CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER NRN CWA BY THIS TIME IN THE HEAVILY
CONVERGENT AREA ON NWRN PORTION OF JET...AND WITH AID OF WEAK SW
MOVING THROUGH LEAD PORTION OF TROUGH...MAY JUST SCRAPE NRN
CWA...ENOUGH FOR SLIGHT CHANCE.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS JUST NOW DEVELOPING OVER WRN WY THIS
AFTERNOON UNDER MAIN TROUGH AND GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFT WILL INCREASE
INTO ERN WY AND NEAR NE PANHANDLE BY EARLY EVENING AS RATHER STRONG
LEE CYCLOGENESIS TAKES PLACE...AND ASSOCIATED TROUGH PUSHES SOUTH
INTO CO FRONT RANGE.  WED LATE AFTERNOON...TROUGH AND DRY LINE
DEVELOPING BEHIND DEVELOPING LEE LOW WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST AND
INTO CENTRAL NE...AS MAIN LOW MOVES NORTH WITH STRONGEST DYNAMICS
AND SUPPORT OF EXIT REGION OF UPPER JET. MEANWHILE...ENTRANCE OF JET
STREAK WILL BE IN FAVORABLE LOCATION FOR OUR EASTERN AND
SOUTHEASTERN CWA TO FIRE SOME THUNDERSTORMS WITH DECENT HEATING
AHEAD...BUT SOMEWHAT LIMITED SFC MOISTURE. WESTERN CWA LOOKS TO DRY
OUT WELL AHEAD OF BEST HEATING AND POSITION OF JET...SO JUST GOING
WITH POPS OVER EASTERN AND SOUTHERN CWA FOR LATE
AFTERNOON...BRINGING SLIGHT CHANCE INTO NRN CWA BY EVENING...BUT
MAINLY OVER NERN PORTION IT LOOKS RIGHT NOW. MAY BE TOO DRY NORTH
TOO BY THIS TIME. TIME WILL TELL. STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS LOOK TO
REMAIN OVER FAR EASTERN CWA...SOUTH INTO KANSAS CWA RIGHT NOW...WILL
HAVE TO WATCH FOR BEST AREAS OF DIFFERENTIAL HEATING BY LATE
AFTERNOON. OTHER AREA FOR SEVERE WILL BE WELL TO OUR NW OVER EASTERN
WY AND WESTERN SD THIS EVENING. TROUGH AXIS LOOKS TO STAY OVER
REGION THROUGH SAT MORNING...SO CONTINUING OFF AND ON WITH CHANCES
OR SLIGHT CHANCES FOR NEXT 4 DAYS...WITH NOTHING THU DAY IN DRY
SLOT...THEN BETTER CHANCES SOUTH FOR FRI THROUGH SAT MORNING.

NO REAL CHANGES WERE MADE BEYOND PERIOD FIVE...JUST TWEAKED TEMPS
AND ADDED CONTINUING CHANCE OF SHOWERS FROM MON TO TUE.

.GID...WIND ADVISORY THIS TONIGHT ENTIRE CWA.

10

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 10:53 AM CST, 4 hours 7 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-221200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1153 AM CDT TUE MAY 21 2002

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

STRONG SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT.  THERE IS A
SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS TOWARD MORNING NORTHWEST OF GRAND ISLAND.
HOWEVER...DUE TO LIMITED MOISTURE...THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED.

DROZD

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Phelps

When: May 21, 3:00 PM CST
Where: Phelps forecast zone
Measured: 42 kt (48 mph)
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.511, -99.414 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, May 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: 5302365.