High based thunderstorms developed by mid afternoon August 30th. The thunderstorms cut two swaths of significant wind damage and reports.
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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 LBF wrote it up.
High based thunderstorms developed by mid afternoon August 30th. The thunderstorms cut two swaths of significant wind damage and reports. The most significant damage occurred at Ainsworth, in Brown County, where a wet microburst laid out a path of damage at 440 PM CDT when thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated to reach 80 mph.
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 30, 1:53 PM CST, 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 253 PM CDT MON AUG 30 2010 .DISCUSSION... THE SLUG OF MOISTURE ALONG BETWEEN HIGHWAYS 61 AND 83 THIS AFTERNOON REPRESENTS THE SOLE OPPORTUNITY FOR SEVERE WEATHER. ONCE THIS LIFTS NORTH AND EAST LATER THIS EVENING DRIER AIR WILL WORK IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST WITH JUST ELEVATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THEREAFTER. IF STORMS CAN SLOW DOWN AND BECOME ROOTED IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER THAN WIND DAMAGE...LARGE HAIL AND PERHAPS AN ISOLATED TORNADO COULD OCCUR. NEARLY ALL OF THE RAIN SHOULD BE OUT THE FCST AREA BY 06Z TONIGHT WITH CLEARING DEVELOPING BY 12Z TUESDAY. A DEVELOPING WARM FRONT TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY COULD PRODUCE MORE THUNDERSTORMS AND CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER ONCE AGAIN. THE AREA OF CONCERN IS ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 83. THE LATEST SOLNS LIGHT UP SCNTL AND SERN NEB. THE FRONT AND THEREFORE FOCUS WILL BE ACTING ACROSS SRN NEB. GENERAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE NORTH AND NORTHWEST OF THE FRONT. SKIES SHOULD CLEAR BY THURSDAY MORNING AND REMAIN MOSTLY CLEAR THROUGH LABOR DAY VIZ A DECENT BATCH OF PACIFIC HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING THROUGH THE CNTL AND SRN PLAINS. HIGHS AND LOWS WILL RETURN TO THE 80S AND 50S WITH A FEW 40S ACROSS WRN NEB WEDS AND THURSDAY MORNINGS. THE ECMWF BACKED OFF ON RAIN CHANCES NEXT SATURDAY. NOW BOTH THE ECMWF AND GFS ARE ON BOARD WITH DRY WEATHER AND A WARMING TREND DEVELOPING SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. HEIGHTS WILL RISE AND LOW PRESSURE WILL GRADUALLY ORGANIZE AND DEEPEN ACROSS THE WRN HIGH PLAINS. BY NEXT MONDAY AND POSSIBLY SUNDAY...HIGHS COULD BE BACK INTO THE LOWER 90S. && .AVIATION... CLOUD COVERAGE WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE LIFTS NORTHEAST THROUGH 31/00Z. CLOUD CEILINGS AOB 10 KFT WILL GRADUALLY LOWER TO NEAR 8 KFT AS THE DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS. THIS EVENING CLEARING OCCURS AS THE CONVECTIONS LIFTS NORTHEAST TO ACROSS EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. OVERNIGHT INTO TUESDAY VISUAL FLIGHT RULES EXPECTED THROUGH 31/18Z. THE COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING SOUTHEAST DURING THE MORNING WITH THE MAIN IMPACT SEE TO BE WINDS SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST WITH FROPA. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH 31/00Z ALTHOUGH LITTLE IMPACT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME WEST OF HIGHWAY 83 TO INCLUDE TERMINALS KLBF AND KVTN. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR NEZ007-010-028-029. && SHORT TERM/EXTENDED...CDC AVIATION...KECK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 304 PM CDT MON AUG 30 2010 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-311000- 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- 304 PM CDT MON AUG 30 2010 /204 PM MDT MON AUG 30 2010/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT EAST OF A LINE FROM ELI IN CENTRAL CHERRY COUNTY TO IMPERIAL IN CHASE COUNTY THIS EVENING. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANE LIFTING NORTHEAST WILL ENHANCE LIFT DURING PEAK HEATING FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO FURTHER DEVELOP. AS THE CAP WEAKENS THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL INCREASE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE. WIND SHEAR WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT WITH ISOLATED TORNADOES ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. AFTER WEDNESDAY NIGHT...NO ADDITIONAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY THIS EVENING EAST OF THE PANHANDLE. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE KECK
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:27 UTC.
11 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
The public reported winds downed tree branches at least 4 inches in diameter.
A spotter reported four to eight inch diameter tree branches down.
A garage was leveled with the roof blown 100 yards to the north. The garage siding was wrapped around trees. The rest of the building was laying on the ground in a pile.
A storm hit Ainsworth with damage significant that included the destruction of two buildings and many trees. Power lines were also downed by the winds and resulted in a power outage that lasted about two hours. The damage was most severe in a relatively concentrated zone, on the north side of the town, which is consistent with a microburst damage path. It was in that area where one of the buildings was destroyed. Debris from the steel building was scattered to the north up to 200 yards, and steel was twisted violently around trees north of the building site.
Winds destroyed a 90 by 30 building.
The public estimated winds at 60 mph.
The public estimated winds at 50 to 60 mph.
Strong winds to 60 mph wrapped tin around a post.
Local Fire and Rescue estimated with to 61 knots.
The public estimated winds to 60 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, August 2010
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: 249281, 249278, 249279, 249280, 249282, 249276, 249283, 249277, 249284, 249285, 249286, 249287, 249288.