Thunderstorms developed along a cold front and moved southeast through the evening. The storms produced large hail, strong wind gusts, heavy rain, and a brief tornado.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Thunderstorms developed along a cold front and moved southeast through the evening. The storms produced large hail, strong wind gusts, heavy rain, and a brief tornado.
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 Aug 11, 2:26 PM CST, 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 326 PM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 .SYNOPSIS... CLEARING EVIDENT ON VSBL SAT PICS BEHIND EXITING WARM ADVECT ELEVATED PRECIP ASSOCIATED WITH EXITING SHORT WAVE OVER THE ERN DAKOTAS. STILL SOME DECENT CONVECTION ONGOING IN BOYD COUNTY. FURTHER WEST...NEXT STRONG SHORT WAVE ENTERING THE WRN HIGH PLAINS AND DEVELOPING TSRA OVER THE BLACK HILLS AND ERN WY. AREA OF SUNSHINE IN WRN CWA RESPONDING AS LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES INCREASE...AND CU FIELD EXPANDS NEAR THE DIFFERENTIAL HEATING AXIS. GOES DPI H2O VAPOR INDICATING SOME DRYING TAKING PLACE IN WRN PANHANDLE...BUT STILL DECENT PWS ACROSS MIDDLE OF THE CWA. 12Z LBF SOUNDING HAD NEAR 1.5 INCHES THIS AM...AND WITH WCD OF >10K FT SHOULD BE SOME HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING STORMS THIS EVENING. && .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THRU WED)...UPPER LOW SPINNING OVER SRN CANADA WILL DRIFT SLOWLY SEWD DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. NW FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TO EJECT WEAK SHORT WAVES ACROSS THE HIGH PLAINS THRU WED...AS CONFLUENT FLOW DEVELOPS. SOME CONCERN THAT WITH BETTER SHEAR TUES STORMS POSSIBLE TUES FURTHER N THAN IN CURRENT FCST...AND THEREFORE EXTENDED THE CHANCES FURTHER N. SFC FEATURE IS WEAK...BUT SOME LL CONVERGENCE NOTED ACROSS THE MIDDLE OF THE CWA AS WELL...AND A BETTER CHANCE OF GETTING GOOD LL LAPSE RATES WITH BETTER SUNSHINE EXPECTED. AFTER PASSAGE OF INITIAL CONVECTION TUES NIGHT...LLJ DEVELOPS AND VEERS TO THE SW AS IS DIURNALLY FAVORABLE...AND PRODUCES ELEVATED CONVECTION WED MORNING FROM SW INTO SC NEB. THEREFORE HAVE INCLUDED SMALL POPS IN THOSE AREAS. TEMPS FCST BELOW MAV GUIDANCE BASED ON SERLY LL FLOW AND POTENTIAL FOR SOME CONVECTIVE DEBRIS TO START THE DAY. .LONG TERM (WED NIGHT THRU SUN)...12Z GFS AND 00Z ECMWF SHOWING DECENT AGREEMENT WITH EVOLUTION OF FEATURES...BUT THE 12Z ECMWF HAS COME IN MORE PROGRESSIVE. SOME HINT THAT 12Z GFS ENSEMBLE WOULD ALSO SUGGEST A MORE PROGRESSIVE PATTERN...BUT LIKELY NOT TO 12Z ECMWF EXTENT. HAVE TRENDED MORE ALONG THE LINES OF 12Z GFS IN KEEPING LOWER TEMPS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. AS FOR PRECIP...EVEN IF 12Z GFS VERIFIES WELL...STILL WOULD EXPECT THAT BEST ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE AND DEEPEST MOISTURE WOULD EXIST EAST AND NORTHEAST OF UPPER LOW AS IT DROPS INTO NRN NEBR. BEST POPS INDICATED THERE. HOWEVER...WILL HAVE TO WATCH AS THIS IS A VERY ANOMALOUS HEIGHT VALUES ARE INDICATED AND MODELS MAY HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THIS. && .AVIATION DISCUSSION... CIGS HAVE LIFTED TO VFR CONDITIONS AS TEMPERATURES HAVE RISEN INTO THE UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S. THIS SHOULD PREVAIL OUTSIDE ANY THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS EVENING. NEAR THE STORMS CONDITIONS MAY BECOME QUITE LIMITED DUE TO HEAVY RAINFALL AND POSSIBLY SOME STRONGER WINDS. SOME REDUCTION IN VSBY IS POSSIBLE TOWARD SUNRISE...ESPECIALLY IN AREAS THAT RECEIVE SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL. FOG MAY DEVELOP IN THESE AREAS AND ALONG THE LARGER RIVER VALLEYS WITH MVFR TO PATCHY IFR CONDTIONS FORMING. AT THE MOMENT CONFIDENCE IS LOW ON STRATUS FORMATION AGAIN TOWARD MORNING...BUT PERSISTANCE WOULD LEAN TO REFORMATION BY MORNING...THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED IN UPCOMING TERMINAL FORECASTS. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 13/JWS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 552 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-121100- 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- 552 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 /452 AM MDT MON AUG 11 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER NEARLY ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. A SURFACE FRONT MOVING IN FROM THE NORTH AND INTERACTING WITH VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR IS LIKELY TO TRIGGER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. WIND PROFILES IN THE LOWER LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO FAVOR AT LEAST ISOLATED SUPER CELL DEVELOPMENT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN WEDNESDAY IN SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA. LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING IN NORTHEAST COLORADO ALONG A SURFACE FRONT WILL BE THE SYSTEM TO INITIATE A FEW THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. HOWEVER...THE MOST UNSTABLE CONDITIONS IS LIKELY TO BE SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA. ALTHOUGH THERE IS CONSIDERABLE UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE LOCATION OF SEVERE WEATHER...THE LATEST FORECAST SIMULATIONS INDICATE THAT IT WILL BE ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 80 AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 83. OTHERWISE...THERE IS AT LEAST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE SPRINGER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
319 PM CDT MON AUG 11 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0305 PM HEAVY RAIN BUTTE 42.91N 98.85W
08/11/2008 M1.10 INCH BOYD NE CO-OP OBSERVER
&&
CARMELThe North Platte radar (KLNX), 177 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:28 UTC.
18 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Up to 5 inches of rain fell with strong thunderstorms causing rapid runoff and significant damage to secondary roads and crops.
Hail from penny to quarter size fell.
The strong winds broke off very large tree branches.
The tornado touched down briefly east of Highway 83 along Goose Creek. The tornado uprooted trees and broke off tree limbs.
Golf ball to baseball size hail occurred near Enders Lake. The large hail severely damaged vehicles.
The strong winds tore shingles off a house.
The hail stripped about 80 percent of the corn and soybean crops.
The hail covered the ground damaging corn and soybean crops.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2008Warnings in Nebraska, August 2008
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: 125735, 125237, 125238, 125239, 125240, 125246, 125241, 125243, 125663, 125248, 125664, 125667, 125665, 125666, 125670, 125677, 125671, 125678, 125680, 125683, 125682, 125689, 125691.