A pre-frontal surface trough followed by a cold front touched off a few severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska.
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 OAX wrote it up.
A pre-frontal surface trough followed by a cold front touched off a few severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska.
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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 2:02 AM CST, 10 hours 43 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 302 AM CDT WED JUL 2 2008 .DISCUSSION... BAND OF SHOWERS THAT DEVELOPED WEST MONDAY AFTN SLOWLY DYING THIS MORNING OVER THE WESTERN CWA. HOWEVER...NEW CONVECTION WAS FIRING OVER NW IA IN AREA OF UPPER DIVG AND WEAK LLVL WAA. ANOTHER COMPLEX IN ERN WY MOVING INTO THE NEB PANH ALONG SFC COLD FRONT EXTENDING FROM ABOUT THE BLACK HILLS TO ERN ND. PCPN ACTIVITY STILL ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT...BUT SEVERE POTENTIAL OVER THE CWA IS IN QUESTION. PREFER NAM SOLUTION THIS MORNING AS GFS OVERALL IS OUTLIER THIS CYCLE. GREAT LAKE UPPER TROF SENDS WIDESPREAD CAA INTO THE NRN CONUS WITH THE SFC BOUNDARY CROSSING THRU THE CWA TODAY AND WILL BE FOCUS FOR CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY DEVELOPING. THE NAM THRUSTS THE FRONT TO THE NEB/KS BORDER LATE THIS AFTERNOON WITH SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE POOLING IN THE SRN CWA ALONG WITH INCREASING CAPES. DEEP LAYER SHEAR THOUGH NOT ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE WITH ABOUT 20KT PROGGED...LEADING TO DECREASED CHANCES FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT/SVR THREAT. STILL...CANNOT RULE OUT A FEW STORMS MAY BE ACCOMPANIED SMALL/MOD SIZE HAIL. WET-BULB ZERO/UPDRAFT FREEZING LVL HGTS THOUGH WILL GENERALLY ON THE HIGH SIDE WITHIN THE CWA AND WIDESPREAD SVR POTENTIAL WITH LARGE HAIL NOT LOOKING TOO PROMISING. AT THIS POINT...SVR THREAT LOOKS MORE LIKELY OVER KS EARLY THIS EVENING WHERE PARAMETERS FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT LOOKS MORE FAVORABLE. WITH THE BOUNDARY REMAINING INVOF THE SRN CWA THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING...WILL CARRY SMALL POPS ALONG THE NEB/KS BORDER AS WELL AS EXTREME SW IA. DRY FCST ON TAP FOR FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT AS UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST. && .AVIATION... FOR TAF SITES KOMA/KLNK/KOFK. TSTM ACTIVITY THIS MORNING SHOULD WEAKEN. COLD FRONT WILL PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE TAF SITES TODAY...SWITCHING WINDS FROM SOUTHERLY TO NORTH OR NORTHEAST. OUTSIDE OF TSTM ACTIVITY...VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO PREVAIL. BEST CHANCE FOR TSTMS AT KOFK IS BEFORE 21Z...BUT COULD LINGER AT KOMA AND KLNK UNTIL AROUND 00Z. SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS MAY LINGER INTO MID EVENING. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && DEE/BCM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1209 PM CDT WED JUL 2 2008 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-030715- MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT- PAGE-KNOX-CEDAR-THURSTON-ANTELOPE-PIERCE-WAYNE-BOONE-MADISON- STANTON-CUMING-BURT-PLATTE-COLFAX-DODGE-WASHINGTON-BUTLER- SAUNDERS-DOUGLAS-SARPY-SEWARD-LANCASTER-CASS-OTOE-SALINE- JEFFERSON-GAGE-JOHNSON-NEMAHA-PAWNEE-RICHARDSON- 1209 PM CDT WED JUL 2 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL IOWA...EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING SOUTH OF AN TEKAMAH TO NORFOLK TO ALBION LINE. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE THE PRIMARY HAZARDS WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS. A COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG AND BEHIND THE COLD FRONT BY MID AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ON THURSDAY SOUTH OF AN OMAHA TO COLUMBUS LINE...AS ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS. A FEW STRONG STORMS ARE POSSIBLE. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY IN THE EVENING. SMITH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail up to golfball-size was reported from 2 miles north of Newman Grove into the town itself. The hail covered the ground white and was driven by winds around 40 mph. The wind driven hail caused house and vehicle damage and also destroyed crops in the area.
Hail up to golfball-size covered the ground from along the Madison county line north of Lindsay into the Lindsay area. The hail was driven by winds estimated at around 55 mph.
Hail up to quarter-size was reported just southwest through southeast of Ft. Calhoun.
Hail up to nickel-size was reported from about 6 miles south southeast of Ft. Calhoun into the northern part of Omaha near the junction of Highway 75 and Interstate 680.
Hail up to penny-size was reported near Interstate 80 and 13th Street. This was from another storm that developed just to the southeast of the first one that produced large hail from the Ft. Calhoun area into north Omaha.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, July 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: 99684, 99686, 99688, 99690, 99691, 99693, 99694.