Nebraska, 2007

Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, April 2, 2007

April 2, 2007 · NWS GID · 9 events in 5 counties and zones

Thunderstorms developed in the western areas and moved northeast. The storms produced severe weather along a path from Dawson County to Sherman County.

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
$30,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
9

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.

Thunderstorms developed in the western areas and moved northeast. The storms produced severe weather along a path from Dawson County to Sherman County. Mainly 3/4 to 1 inch diameter hail occurred with the storms with some gusty winds. A few wind gusts were between 60 and 75 mph.

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 Apr 2, 6:55 PM CST, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 2, 6:55 PM CST, 42 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
755 PM CDT MON APR 2 2007

.DISCUSSION...LATEST REGIONAL RADAR MOSAIC REVEALS A LINE OF
STRONG TO SEVERE CONVECTION OVER THE HIGH PLAINS OF WESTERN
NEBRASKA. THIS CONVECTION APPEARS TO BE RIDING ALONG THE NORTHERN
EDGE OF THE 850MB THETA E AXIS STRETCHING FROM WESTERN NEBRASKA
INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. LOOKS AS THOUGH THE CONVECTION WILL
CONTINUE TO PROPAGATE ALONG THE THETA E AXIS INTO THE LATE EVENING
TO OVERNIGHT HOURS WHICH SHOULD BRING AT LEAST SOME SCATTERED
CONVECTION TO MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA. BASED ON THIS
SETUP...HAVE INCREASED PRECIPITATION CHANCES FOR THE ENTIRE
FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING AND EARLY OVERNIGHT.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 313 PM CDT MON APR 2 2007/

SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. UPPER WAVE STILL TO OUR
WEST WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST TONIGHT. SURFACE LOW IN WESTERN HIGH
PLAINS WILL ALSO TRACK EAST ACROSS THE AREA. WARM FRONT EXTENDS
ALONG KANSAS/NEBRASKA BORDER AND HAS NOT MOVED MUCH TODAY. AS UPPER
SYSTEM GETS CLOSER...EXPECT THIS BOUNDARY TO DRIFT NORTHWARD. BETTER
DYNAMICS ARRIVE WITH UPPER SYSTEM AND THE LOW LEVEL JET WILL GET
GOING AFTER DARK WILL PROVIDE A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. BEST
CHANCES WILL BE EAST OF HIGHWAY 281 FROM BELOIT KS TO GRAND ISLAND
NEBR. THE AREA NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND IN THE ORD AREA WILL ALSO BE
FAVORED AREA TONIGHT. FRONT PUSHES ITS WAY ACROSS THE AREA AFTER
MIDNIGHT AND TAKES CHANCE FOR PRECIP WITH IT.

A COOLER DAY FORECAST FOR TUESDAY WITH COLD AIR ADVECTION BEHIND
THE FRONT. TEMPS WILL STRUGGLE TO MAKE THE UPPER 40S OR LOWER 50S
UNDER PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES.  SURFACE RIDGE STILL ON TOP OF US
TUESDAY NIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP COLD AIR OVER THE REGION
WITH LOW TEMPS BOTTOMING OUT IN THE MIDDLE 20S TO AROUND 30.

LONG TERM...BEGINNING 12Z WEDNESDAY

LONG TERM FORECAST STARTS OFF COOL AND DRY AS SURFACE RIDGING
REMAINS IN PLACE OVER THE REGION. MOSTLY SUNNY TO PARTLY CLOUDY
SKIES REMAIN LIKELY WEDNESDAY AS HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS SPILL OVER THE
WESTERN CONUS TROUGH AND DRIFT INTO OUR AREA VIA THE JET STREAM.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT BECOMES A BIT MORE INTERESTING AS THE SURFACE RIDGE
SLIDES OFF TO OUR EAST A BIT...THUS ALLOWING SURFACE WINDS TO VEER
FROM THE NORTH TO MORE OF A NORTHEAST TO EASTERLY DIRECTION. THE
RESULTING UPSLOPE FLOW...WORKING IN CONCERT WITH AN APPROACHING MID
LEVEL IMPULSE...MAY PRODUCE ENOUGH LIFT TO PRODUCE PRECIPITATION
OVER THE CWA BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. FORECAST SOUNDINGS INDICATE
THE COLUMN WILL CERTAINLY BE COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW DURING THIS TIME
PERIOD AND AS A RESULT...HAVE GONE AHEAD AND INSERTED SLIGHT CHANCES
FOR LIGHT RAIN AND LIGHT SNOW ACROSS THE CWA. CURRENT THINKING IS
LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHWESTERN PORTIONS OF THE
CWA...WITH MORE OF A RAIN / SNOW MIX ACROSS WEST CENTRAL PORTIONS OF
THE CWA BY EARLY MORNING THURSDAY. PRECIPITATION WILL THEN SPREAD
ACROSS THE REST OF THE CWA AFTER SUNRISE THURSDAY AS THE MID LEVEL
IMPULSE OVERTAKES THE AREA. LIGHT SNOW SEEMS PLAUSIBLE ACROSS
NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA...WITH A RAIN AND SNOW MIX FARTHER
SOUTH. DAYTIME HEATING SHOULD WARM THE LOW LEVELS ENOUGH FOR SNOW TO
TRANSITION TO RAIN ACROSS MOST LOCATIONS BY MID DAY. SLIGHT CHANCES
FOR LIGHT RAIN THEN PERSIST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON...BEFORE POSSIBLY
TRANSITIONING BACK TO SNOW ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA AFTER
SUNSET. PRECIPITATION SHOULD COME TO AN END ALL TOGETHER BY MIDNIGHT
AS SUBSIDENCE SETTLES IN BEHIND THE MID LEVEL IMPULSE. AFTERNOON
HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE ALSO SOMEWHAT TRICKY FOR THURSDAY. I DID LOWER
AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES SOMEWHAT INTO THE LOWER 40S ACROSS THE
NORTHERN TWO THIRDS OF THE CWA...AND INTO THE MID 40S ACROSS THE
SOUTH. THE COMBINATION OF UPSLOPE FLOW...CLOUD COVER...AND WHAT MAY
BE PERSISTENT PRECIPITATION COULD RESULT IN COOLER THAN FORECAST
TEMPERATURES. THURSDAY MORNING LOW TEMPERATURES RANGING FROM THE
UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S RESULTS IN A DAYTIME DIURNAL OF ABOUT 13
DEGREES FOR MOST LOCATIONS...SO I AM CONTENT TO WITH THURSDAYS HIGHS
FOR THE TIME BEING.

THERE ARE INDICATIONS OF OTHER SUBTLE MID LEVEL IMPULSES PUSHING
THROUGH THE AREA LATE FRIDAY AND AGAIN ON MONDAY. GIVEN THE
UNCERTAINTY OF THESE IMPULSES 5-7 DAYS OUT HOWEVER...HAVE OPTED TO
KEEP THE REMAINDER OF THE LONG TERM DRY. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE
AT BELOW CLIMO WITH HIGHS IN THE 40S AND 50S...LOW IN THE 20S AND
30S.

.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...NONE.
KS...NONE.
&&
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 2, 6:40 PM CST, 57 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
740 PM CDT MON APR 2 2007

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-
031200-
PHILLIPS-SMITH-JEWELL-ROOKS-OSBORNE-MITCHELL-VALLEY-GREELEY-NANCE-
SHERMAN-HOWARD-MERRICK-POLK-DAWSON-BUFFALO-HALL-HAMILTON-YORK-
GOSPER-PHELPS-KEARNEY-ADAMS-CLAY-FILLMORE-FURNAS-HARLAN-FRANKLIN-
WEBSTER-NUCKOLLS-THAYER-
740 PM CDT MON APR 2 2007

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.

A BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE EAST INTO PORTIONS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS BY MID EVENING. A
FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY BE STRONG WITH HAIL UP TO NICKEL SIZE AND
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH POSSIBLE. THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED
TO EXIT THE AREA UNTIL THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE:
   HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS  (ALL LOWERCASE)

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:36 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Dawson

When
April 2, 7:37 PM CST
Where
Dawson County, 5 mi NNW of Gothenburg
Measured
66 kt (76 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
40.997, -100.187

Thunderstorm Wind, Dawson

When
April 2, 7:59 PM CST
Where
Dawson County, Cozad
Measured
55 kt (63 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Amateur Radio
Coordinates
40.870, -99.970

Hail, Dawson

When
April 2, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Dawson County, Gothenburg
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
40.930, -100.150

Hail, Dawson

When
April 2, 8:10 PM CST
Where
Dawson County, Cozad
Measured
1 in hail
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
Amateur Radio
Coordinates
40.870, -99.970

Hail, Dawson

When
April 2, 8:29 PM CST
Where
Dawson County, 0.5 mi N of Lexington
Measured
1 in hail
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
40.787, -99.730

Hail, Sherman

When
April 2, 8:54 PM CST
Where
Sherman County, Loup City
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
COOP Observer
Coordinates
41.280, -98.980

Thunderstorm Wind, Buffalo

When
April 2, 8:57 PM CST
Where
Buffalo County, (Ear)kearney Arpt
Measured
54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
Reported by
AWOS
Coordinates
40.730, -99.000

Lightning, Valley

When
April 2, 9:30 PM CST
Where
Valley County, Ord
Property damage
$20,000
Reported by
Newspaper
Coordinates
41.600, -98.930

Lightning struck the Evangelical Free Church during a thunderstorm this Monday evening. The lightning strike hit the bathroom vent and went to the basement. It made three holes in the roof and knocked off a big portion of the ceiling. It also knocked nails out of the ceiling and ruined several pieces of electrical equipment. (Source: Ord Quiz Newspaper 4/11/2007).

Thunderstorm Wind, Merrick

When
April 2, 9:40 PM CST
Where
Merrick County, Chapman
Measured
64 kt (74 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
41.020, -98.170

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.
Lightning
A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nebraska in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, April 2007

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: 28676, 28677, 28670, 28671, 28673, 28674, 28678, 29551, 28679.