A thunderstorm producing cloud-to-ground lightning resulted in damage to a utility pole and downed live wires.
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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 GLD wrote it up.
A thunderstorm producing cloud-to-ground lightning resulted in damage to a utility pole and downed live wires.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 16, 11:46 AM CST, 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1146 AM MDT THU APR 16 2009 .DISCUSSION... 329 AM MDT THU APR 16 2009 MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS THE COPIOUS PRECIPITATION PROGGED BY THE MODELS TO FALL ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA FROM TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. HAVE GENERALLY CUT AMOUNTS IN HALF FROM WHAT THE MODELS ARE ADVERTISING AND STILL END UP WITH SOME AREAS RECEIVING OVER TWO INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THE SLOW MOVING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE 4-CORNERS REGION TODAY AND THROUGH THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS ON FRIDAY THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY. AHEAD OF THE MAIN UPPER LOW A DRYLINE FORMS ALONG WITH A SURFACE TROUGH POSITIONED FROM EASTERN COLORADO THROUGH THE WESTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE TODAY. MOIST AIR AHEAD OF THE TROUGH AND GOOD HEATING TODAY WILL DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE WITH THE DRYLINE PROVIDING A FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE LATER TODAY. THE SCENARIO WILL REPEAT ITSELF ON FRIDAY WITH THE OVERALL PATTERN SHIFTED SLIGHTLY TO THE SOUTH. THE UPPER LOW MOVES INTO EASTERN NEW MEXICO AND THE NEAR SURFACE FLOW TURNS MORE EASTERLY ACROSS THE TRI-STATE REGION AROUND THE SURFACE LOW AS IT MOVES INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE REGION. NEAR SURFACE UPSLOPE FLOW AND THE ASCENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LOW LIFTING NORTHEAST INTO KANSAS ON SATURDAY WILL PRODUCE A MORE STRATIFIED TYPE PRECIPITATION EVENT WITH A FEW THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE IN MAINLY THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA AND RAINFALL TURNING TO SNOW ACROSS THE COLORADO COUNTIES LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY MORNING AS WINDS TURN NORTH AND COOLER AIR MOVES INTO THE FORECAST AREA. AN AMPLIFIED UPPER RIDGE MOVES INTO THE ROCKIES AND HIGH PLAINS LATE IN THE WEEKEND AND DURING THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK...SO EXPECT DRY AND WARMER CONDITIONS DURING THAT TIME. LOCKHART && .AVIATION... 1145 AM MDT THU APR 16 2009 FOR THE 18Z TAF CYCLE...EXPECT CURRENT IFR CONDITIONS AT KGLD...AND SOON AT KMCK...TO PREVAIL THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE TAF PERIOD...EVEN DIMINISHING DOWN TO LIFR CONDITIONS BETWEEN 10Z AND 17Z. NUMEROUS RAIN SHOWERS AND SCATTERED TO WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE TAF PERIOD. BLM && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. NE...NONE. CO...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1052 AM MDT THU APR 16 2009 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-171315- YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON- SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA- DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW- 1052 AM MDT THU APR 16 2009 /1152 AM CDT THU APR 16 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EAST CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP TODAY ALONG AND EAST OF A SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDING FROM EASTERN COLORADO INTO EASTERN NEW MEXICO. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING AND BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD WITH SOME STORMS POSSIBLY BECOMING SEVERE. THE PRIMARY THREATS WITH ANY STORMS THAT BECOME SEVERE WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE TRI-STATE REGION FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS. THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. RAIN WILL BEGIN TO MIX WITH OR CHANGE OVER TO SNOW LATE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY WEST OF HIGHWAY 59 IN EASTERN COLORADO. SEVERAL INCHES OF WET SLUSHY SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. BLM/JK
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:29 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
KIOD radio reported a lightning strike near 5th and Q Street in McCook. The utility pole was destroyed and fire units were dispatched to the scene due to downed live wires.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, April 2009
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: 159723.