A large severe thunderstorm took aim on a portion of south-central Nebraska and produced a tornado and extensive property and crop damage due to hail and high winds. The thunderstorm initially ripped across Greeley county.
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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.
The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.
A large severe thunderstorm took aim on a portion of south-central Nebraska and produced a tornado and extensive property and crop damage due to hail and high winds. The thunderstorm initially ripped across Greeley county. Damage was noted throughout almost the entire county. Of note, hangers at the Greeley Airport sustained damage, a large grain bin at the County Partners Co-op collapsed, pivots were overturned and windows broken out and roofs damaged. A communications tower west of Wolbach was toppled. The tower had withstood 42 years of Nebraska weather before collapsing during this storm. Flooding was reported in southeast Greeley county near Wolbach.In Howard county, a brief tornado west of St. Paul destroyed a couple of grain bins. North of town, a tree fell into the living room of one house. Tree and property damage was widespread throughout St. Paul. To the west, large hail was reported in Sherman and Buffalo counties. Crop damage was heavy in many locations. A 60 mph wind was recorded at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport near Grand Island before the thunderstorm dissipated.
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 12, 2:00 PM CST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 300 PM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THERE IS AN OUTSIDE CHANCE FOR CONVECTION THIS EVENING IN CONVERGENT AREA ALONG SFC TROF AXIS STRETCHING FROM KOGA TO KVTN...WHICH WILL SLOWLY SAG FURTHER SOUTHEAST AS UPPER TROF CROSSES THE NORTHERN PLAINS. A SECOND AREA OF FOCUS FOR CONVECTION IS ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM KOMA TO NORTHEAST OF KONL...HOWEVER THIS BOUNDARY. WITH HIGH DPS...SFC BASED CAPES AVERAGING 4000-6000 J/KG ACROSS MUCH OF NEB. CAP STILL HOLDING WITH WARM MID LEVEL TEMPS ACROSS WESTERN/CENTRAL NEB. LOW POPS HAVE BEEN MAINTAINED WITH PROGRESSION OF SFC TROF AXIS TONIGHT...BUT INITIAION MAY BE JUST BEYOND CWA BORDERS AND OVERALL STORM MOTION IS SLOW. IF STORMS DO MAKE IT INTO CWA...ISOLATED POTENTIAL FOR STRONG WINDS/HEAVY RAIN EXISTS. SFC BOUNDARY STALLS ACROSS THE CWA ON TUESDAY WITH BAROCLINIC ZONE CUTTING THRU NEB CWA. AIRMASS REMAINS TOASTY SOUTH OF THE FRONT WITH WARM 90S CONTINUING...BUT EASTERLY WINDS AND MOISTURE POOLING ALONG BOUNDARY WILL HOLD MAXES DOWN TO THE NORTH. TSTMS AGAIN POSSIBLE LATE TUES ESPECIALLY EASTERN ZONES AS THIS AREA WILL BE ON EASTERN EDGE OF CAP AND THERE WILL BE CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BOUNDARY. UPPER RIDGE AXIS RETROGRADES AND AMPLIFIES OVER THE ROCKIES ON WEDNESDAY AS TROF DEEPENS ALONG THE EASTERN CONUS AND NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES THE WEST COAST. IN NORTHWEST FLOW PATTERN...SLIGHTLY BETTER POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTION TO IMPEDE CWA THAN AROUND THE PERIPHERY. EASTERLY UPSLOPE WINDS WILL DRAW MOISTURE IN AND CONTINUE TO HOLD BACK TEMPS. A FEW MORE CLOUDS EXPECTED AS WELL AS UPPER JET SLIDES SE IN NW FLOW...AND HAVE LOWERED TEMPS FROM PREVIOUS FCST. .LONG TERM...THU THRU MON. FEW CHANGES HERE WITH MAINLY TWEAKS HERE AND THERE. HOWEVER...DID BEGIN TO ADD SMALL POPS INTO FCST FOR FRI AND SAT AS RIDGE CONTINUES TO TO LOOK MORE LIKELY TO BACK OFF A BIT AND RETRO BACK WEST...EASING CWA BACK INTO UP NW FLOW PATTERN. MDLS CONTINUE TO HINT AT DECENT LL CONVERGENCE AREA FROM WRN PORTIONS OF KS AND NE...ON N SIDE OF STRENGTHENING THERMAL LOW BY LATE THU. PERPETUAL WARM FRONT BOUNDARY PROBABLY STAGNANT THRU CNTRL KS THRU FIRST HALF OF DAY(THU) W/STRONG MID LVL RIDGING AND CAPPING GOING ON. HOWEVER...UPSLOPE FLOW BROUGHT ON BY ELY AND SELY FLOW WILL ENHANCE CONVERGENCE N OF SFC LOW...WITH BETTER (SOME/INCREASING/ETC.) CHC FOR DEVELOPMENT OF TSRA BY THU NIGHT. FRI...DITTO EXCEPT FOR SFC LOW/BOUNDARY PUSHED FURTHER S BUT STRONGER MID LVL SW TO RIDE THRU THE NW FLOW...SO AGAIN SMALL CHC INTO AND THRU SAT. SAT ON LOOKS TO EASE RIDGE EAST AND RETURN TO MORE BLISTERING TEMPS BY BEGINNING OF WORK WEEK NEXT. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. KS...NONE. && FAY/10
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 619 PM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-131200- ADAMS-BUFFALO-CLAY-DAWSON-FILLMORE-FRANKLIN-FURNAS-GOSPER-GREELEY- HALL-HAMILTON-HARLAN-HOWARD-JEWELL-KEARNEY-MERRICK-MITCHELL-NANCE- NUCKOLLS-OSBORNE-PHELPS-PHILLIPS-POLK-ROOKS-SHERMAN-SMITH-THAYER- VALLEY-WEBSTER-YORK- 619 PM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING...MAINLY NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80...AS A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH MOVES SOUTHEAST INTO NEBRASKA. DUE TO A LARGE AMOUNT OF ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITY...ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH THE MAIN THREATS BEING LARGE HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS AND DAMAGING WINDS. AN ISOLATED TORNADO ALSO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. IN ADDITION...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A FEW STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE DURING THIS TIME FRAME WITH STRONG WIND GUSTS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL THE PRIMARY HAZARDS. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 TONIGHT. LAWRENCE/FAY
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:01 UTC.
6 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A severe thunderstorm produced 90 mph winds and large hail across Greeley county. Widespread property and crop damage was reported.
A brief tornado was reported near the intersection of state highways 92 and 11, west of Saint Paul.
Runoff from heavy rain in the Wolbach area ran over county roads in the area and caused some minor damage.
70 mph winds were reported with the hail. Crop damage was significant in the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2004Warnings in Nebraska, July 2004
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: 5411070, 5411071, 5411072, 5411073, 5411074, 5411075, 5411076, 5411077, 5411078, 5411079, 5411080, 5411081, 5411082.