A small thunderstorm complex turned severe with areas of damaging winds as it tracked from around Seward through the Omaha area and into southwest Iowa during the early morning hours of July 28th. The thunderstorms were fed by high levels of instability as temperatures were around 80 and dew point temperatures were in the mid and upper 70s ahead of the storms.
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 small thunderstorm complex turned severe with areas of damaging winds as it tracked from around Seward through the Omaha area and into southwest Iowa during the early morning hours of July 28th. The thunderstorms were fed by high levels of instability as temperatures were around 80 and dew point temperatures were in the mid and upper 70s ahead of the storms.
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 28, 1:50 AM CST, 1 hour 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 250 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011 .DISCUSSION...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. NAM/GFS/ECM IN RELATIVELY DECENT AGREEMENT THIS MORNING WITH CANADIAN SHORTWAVE TROF AND SFC REFLECTION DRAGGING A COLD FRONT INTO THE CNTRL PLAINS TODAY. CURRENTLY...LEADING EDGE OF FRONT EXTENDED FROM NERN IA TO WRN KS. MODELS ALL SHOWING BNDRY WILL CONTINUE PUSHING SOUTH TODAY AND BE THE FOCUS FOR PCPN DEVELOPMENT. NEAR ZONAL FLOW THOUGH ACROSS THE CONUS WILL ALLOW THE FRONT TO EVENTUALLY STALL OUT LATE FRIDAY NIGHT ACROSS KS/MO/IL. SFC BNDRY THEN PROGGED TO LIFT BACK NORTH AS A WARM FRONT SATURDAY WITH GOOD BNDRY LYR MOISTURE RETURN TO THE PLAINS. GOING FCST REASONABLE WITH POPS DECREASING FROM NORTH TO SOUTH DURING THE TIME PERIOD TODAY THRU FRIDAY NIGHT. PLENTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL MOISTURE AVAILABLE FOR THE BNDRY TO TAP. REGIONAL SOUNDINGS INDICATING HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT WITH PRECIP WATER VALUES 150-200% OF NORM...AND AS OF NOW APPEARS THAT THE SRN CWA WILL SEE HIGHEST PCPN ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. DEE && .AVIATION... TAF SITES KOFK/KOMA/KLNK 06Z TAFS SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE APPROACHING KOFK FROM THE NORTHWEST AND KLNK FROM THE SOUTHWEST BEFORE 28/06Z ISSUANCE AND TEMPO GROUPS WERE INCLUDED AT BOTH SITES. HOWEVER...THERE WAS A CHANCE THAT ACTIVITY WOULD HOLD OFF TO THE NORTH OF KOFK WITH FORMER CLUSTER AND WEAKEN/DISSIPATE BEFORE REACHING KLNK WITH SECOND CLUSTER. STRONG WINDS COULD OCCUR WITH ANY TSTM ACTIVITY THIS MORNING...AND OUTFLOW COULD REACH KOFK EVEN IF CONVECTION REMAINS TO THEIR NORTH. OTHERWISE...SOME LIGHT FOG/LOW CLOUDS COULD DEVELOP IN WAKE OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ALTHOUGH IT WILL PROBABLY BE PATCHY AND VARIABLE AND PERSIST INTO MID MORNING. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE LATER TODAY AND LATER TAF FORECASTS WILL ASSESS PROBABILITY FOR INCLUSION. CHERMOK && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 432 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-281700- ANTELOPE-BOONE-BURT-BUTLER-CASS-CEDAR-COLFAX-CUMING-DODGE-DOUGLAS- FREMONT IA-GAGE-HARRISON IA-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-KNOX-LANCASTER-MADISON- MILLS IA-MONONA IA-MONTGOMERY IA-NEMAHA-OTOE-PAGE IA-PAWNEE-PIERCE- PLATTE-POTTAWATTAMIE IA-RICHARDSON-SALINE-SARPY-SAUNDERS-SEWARD- SHELBY IA-STANTON-THURSTON-WASHINGTON-WAYNE- 432 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL IOWA...EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH TONIGHT ALONG A SLOW MOVING SURFACE FRONT MOVING SOUTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THE BOUNDARY IS EXPECTED TO STALL LATER TODAY JUST SOUTH OF THE I-80 CORRIDOR...WHERE CHANCES FOR SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE MOST PREVALENT. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN ARE ALL POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT. MODERATE TO MAJOR FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA AGAIN ON FRIDAY...ESPECIALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80... WITH ADDITIONAL SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO OCCUR. MODERATE TO MAJOR FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS AT LEAST. A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED AGAIN FROM SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR COUNTIES ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-80.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA 228 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011 NEZ050-065-280815- BUTLER NE-SEWARD NE- 228 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011 ...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR SEWARD AND SOUTHERN BUTLER COUNTIES UNTIL 315 AM CDT... AT 225 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES EAST OF MCCOOL JUNCTION...OR 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF YORK...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... UTICA... STAPLEHURST... SEWARD... ULYSSES... CHERMOK
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
318 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0305 AM TSTM WND DMG SEWARD 40.91N 97.10W
07/28/2011 SEWARD NE LAW ENFORCEMENT
LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN ACROSS PARTS OF TOWN.
&&
RCHERMOKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
402 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0358 AM TSTM WND GST VALLEY 41.31N 96.35W
07/28/2011 M57 MPH DOUGLAS NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS
AT NWS.
&&
RCHERMOKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
404 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0355 AM TSTM WND GST WAHOO 41.22N 96.62W
07/28/2011 E65 MPH SAUNDERS NE AWOS
&&
DEEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
420 AM CDT THU JUL 28 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0415 AM TSTM WND GST OMAHA 41.26N 96.01W
07/28/2011 E60 MPH DOUGLAS NE TRAINED SPOTTER
LARGE TREE LIMB DOWN NEAR 45TH AND H IN OMAHA...ESTIMATED
WIND GUSTS OF 60 TO 65 MPH.
&&
RCHERMOKThe Omaha radar (KOAX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:38 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph downed a large tree onto a road southeast of Underwood.
Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph caused a semi to jackknife near Shelby.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, July 2011
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: 317800, 317801.