An intense low pressure system that caused blizzard conditions in western South Dakota brought high winds to western and north central Nebraska. The winds were sustained from 40 to 45 mph with most gusts around 60 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 20 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 LBF wrote it up.
An intense low pressure system that caused blizzard conditions in western South Dakota brought high winds to western and north central Nebraska. The winds were sustained from 40 to 45 mph with most gusts around 60 mph. An automated weather observing system near Rushville in northwest Sheridan County reported a gust to 84 mph. The winds overturned a vacated mobile home in Rushville in northwest Sheridan County, uprooted and broke off trees, destroyed small sheds, downed power lines, peeled back roofing on a building at a lumberyard in Hyannis in Grant County, and removed shingles from numerous buildings. The intense winds spread southward through the morning hours and overturned a Fed-Ex semi-truck on Highway 97 about 5 miles southeast of Tryon in McPherson County and another semi-truck on Interstate 80 near Maxwell in Lincoln County. The drivers of the semi-truck received only minor injuries. Visibilities were reduced to 1 mile or less at times in blowing dust and sand.
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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 19, 1:49 AM MST, 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 349 AM CDT WED APR 19 2006 .DISCUSSION... PRIMARY FORECAST CHALLENGE TODAY IS WIND. AT 08Z THE SD SURFACE LOW WAS DEEPENING AND MOVING SOUTHEAST WITH CLOSE TO 4MB 3HR PRES FALLS OVER THE SOUTHWEST HALF OF THE STATE. SURFACE WINDS ARE ALREADY ABOVE ADVISORY LEVEL IN THE NORTHWEST WITH VTN AT 30KT AND HIGHER SPEEDS TO THE WEST IN AREAS NORTH OF HIGHWAY 2. TODAY MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT AND OUT THROUGH 120 HOURS...THEN BEGIN TO DIVERGE AS THE NEXT SOUTHWEST SYSTEM LIFTS NORTHEAST INTO AN INCREASING BLOCKING PATTERN THROUGH 192 HOURS. FORECAST MODEL BLEND USED IN THE NEAR TERM. TODAY THE NEARLY VERTICALLY STACKED SYSTEM OVER THE DAKOTAS WILL SLOWLY ARC SOUTHEAST THEN RECURVE NORTHEAST OVERNIGHT WEDNESDAY. INCREASED DOWNWARD MOMENTUM TRANSFER WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE WEST AS ISENTROPIC LIFT THAT WRAPS AROUND THE SYSTEM EXTENDS SOUTH INTO NORTHWEST NEBRASKA. LAPSE RATES STEEPEN WITH BUFKIT SOUNDINGS SHOWING STEEP LAPSE RATES UP THROUGH 650 MB ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST... WITH STRONGER WINDS TO MIX DOWN FROM AT LEAST 700 MB. MERRIMAN PROFILER HAS 50 KNOTS IN THE LOWEST GATE WITH 55 TO 65 KNOTS UP THROUGH 700 MB. THE REAL CHALLENGE WILL BE AREAL COVERAGE AND HOW LONG WINDS REMAIN UP. FOR NOW ACROSS THE WEST HIGH WIND WARNING TO BE ISSUED FROM 4 AM TO 6 PM CDT FOR AREAS WEST OF A LINE FROM VALENTINE TO BROKEN BOW. THEN WIND ADVISORY FURTHER EAST. WINDS WILL STRENGTHEN THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING THEN PEAK BY EARLY AFTERNOON THEN SUBSIDE AS SURFACE HEATING CEASES AND SYSTEM STARTS TO RETURN NORTHEAST. RADAR MOSAIC SHOWS PRECIPITATION ACROSS WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA THAT SHOULD MOVE INTO THE NORTHWEST THIS MORNING AS ISENTROPIC LIFT AREA SPREADS SOUTHWARD. HOWEVER MOISTURE DIMINISHES SOUTH OF THE SD STATELINE AS SHOWN ON THE IR IMAGERY AND SLOW SOUTHWARD DRIFT OF UPPER LOW WILL KEEP THE BRUNT OF THE CLOUD COVERAGE OVER THE NORTH HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH NOONTIME. THEN THE WRAP AROUND CLOUD SHIELD EXTENDING SOUTH THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. PRECIPITATION WILL OCCUR IN THE NORTH WITH TEMPERATURES ABOVE FREEZING TO KEEP SNOWFALL LOW. NORTHERN SHERIDAN AND NORTHWEST CHERRY COULD GET 1 TO 3 INCHES WITH WARM GROUND TO LIMIT ACCUMULATIONS OVERALL. TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY THE SYSTEM WILL EXIT SLOWLY NORTHEAST WITH THE BLOCKING PATTERN TO KEEP MOISTURE WRAPPING WESTWARD CAUSING VARIABLE AMOUNTS OF CLOUDINESS AND POSSIBLY LIGHT PRECIPITATION IN THE FAR NORTH FOR THE NEAR TERM. FOR THE EXTENDED THE UPPER RIDGE WILL BUILD EAST SATURDAY WITH MODEL DIFFERENCES INCREASING BEYOND. FOR NOW RAISED HIGH TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE WEST SATURDAY AS WARMER AIR IS DRAWN NORTH ON THE HIGH PLAINS. THEN FEW CHANGES MADE IN THE EXTENDED AS THE MODELS NORMALLY DO NOT HANDLE SYSTEM PROGRESSION WELL IN BLOCKING PATTERNS WITH MODEL GUIDANCE ALREADY GENERATING TEMPERATURES SWINGS BY SUNDAY. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 7 PM CDT /6 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING FOR NEZ004-NEZ005-NEZ008-NEZ022-NEZ023-NEZ024-NEZ025-NEZ026-NEZ035- NEZ036-NEZ037-NEZ038-NEZ056-NEZ057-NEZ058-NEZ059-NEZ069-NEZ070- NEZ071-NEZ094. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR NEZ006-NEZ007- NEZ009-NEZ010-NEZ027-NEZ028-NEZ029. && 19
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 338 PM CDT TUE APR 18 2006 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-191100- SHERIDAN-EASTERN CHERRY-KEYA PAHA-BOYD-BROWN-ROCK-HOLT-GARDEN- GRANT-HOOKER-THOMAS-BLAINE-LOUP-GARFIELD-WHEELER-ARTHUR-MCPHERSON- LOGAN-CUSTER-DEUEL-KEITH-PERKINS-LINCOLN-CHASE-HAYES-FRONTIER- WESTERN CHERRY- 338 PM CDT TUE APR 18 2006 /238 PM MDT TUE APR 18 2006/ ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT... ...HIGH WIND WATCH FOR TOMORROW... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH TO BELOW WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA LATE THIS EVENING ACROSS WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. A MIX OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW NORTH OF HIGHWAY 2 AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 83 IS EXPECTED TO PERSIST AND CHANGE TO ALL SNOW ACROSS SHERIDAN COUNTY AND WESTERN CHERRY COUNTY BY MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. PERIODS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED ACROSS SHERIDAN COUNTY AND WESTERN CHERRY COUNTY INTO THE MORNING HOURS. AT THIS TIME...ONLY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 INCHES OR LESS WITH A FEW LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED. THE GREATEST THREAT FOR SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM HAY SPRINGS TO MERRIMAN...AND IN AREAS NEAR AND NORTHEAST OF ELLSWORTH WHERE ELEVATIONS RISE TO AROUND 4000 FEET. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOWFALL POTENTIAL...ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA WILL RECEIVE STRONG WINDS TOMORROW. A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF THE AREA. ALL AREAS ARE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE WINDS REACHING WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA. ANY ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW IN COMBINATION WITH THE HIGH WINDS MAY RESULT IN SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. THIS POWERFUL SPRING STORM WILL WEAKEN AND SLOWLY DEPART FROM THE PLAINS WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE (ALL LOWERCASE) JMC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
20 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, April 2006
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: 5498664, 5498655, 5498665, 5498667, 5498666, 5498674, 5498672, 5498662, 5498663, 5498670, 5498668, 5498671, 5498669, 5498673, 5498657, 5498661, 5498656, 5498659, 5498660, 5498658.