This late Thursday afternoon featured a rather unexpected, fast-moving line of strong thunderstorms across southwest portions of South Central Nebraska, primarily impacting Gosper, Furnas, Phelps, Harlan, Kearney and Franklin Counties. Although pea size hail was reported in Holdrege, strong outflow winds to around 55 MPH were the main issue as storms spread into the area from the west between 4…
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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 GID wrote it up.
This late Thursday afternoon featured a rather unexpected, fast-moving line of strong thunderstorms across southwest portions of South Central Nebraska, primarily impacting Gosper, Furnas, Phelps, Harlan, Kearney and Franklin Counties. Although pea size hail was reported in Holdrege, strong outflow winds to around 55 MPH were the main issue as storms spread into the area from the west between 4 PM and 5 PM. There was only one notable report of damage, as a large, empty grain bin was destroyed two miles east of Loomis in Phelps County. Although storms weakened by 6 PM, gusts as high as 47 MPH were measured as far east as Hastings. These were the first strong thunderstorms within South Central Nebraska since mid-October.
This narrow line of convection first developed in southwest Nebraska around 230 PM CST, within a zone of steep low and mid level lapse rates, and along a surface cold front sweeping eastward across the region. Although the afternoon featured seasonably warm temperatures in the upper 50s to mid 60s, low level moisture was scant with surface dewpoints only in the 30s. Despite most-unstable CAPE values of only a few hundred J/kg at most, these low-topped storms became efficient wind producers in the presence of the steep low level lapse rates and strong deep-layer vertical wind shear of 50-60 knots, with evaporating rainfall only enhancing outflow winds. In the mid levels, the primary trigger was a strong shortwave diving southeast from the Northern Rockies.
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 29, 4:15 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 415 PM CST THU DEC 29 2011 .SHORT TERM...SIGNIFICANT CLOUD COVER PLAGUED THE REGION TODAY AHEAD OF AN UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE CROSSING THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. SOME CLEARING BEHIND THE INITIAL BAND OF CLOUDS OVER THE HIGH PLAINS HAS ALLOWED FOR ADDITIONAL INSTABILITY TO DEVELOP TO OUR WEST...AND EVEN HAVE WITNESSED A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES OUT OF THIS WEAK CONVECTION CLOSER TO THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA. WHILE INSTABILITY IS LACKING ACROSS OUR LOCAL AREA...CANNOT RULE OUT THAT THESE SHOWERS WILL ACTUALLY HOLD TOGETHER AS THEY APPROACH DAWSON AND GOSPER COUNTIES OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS...SO INCLUDED SOME ISOLATED POPS WITH VERY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE LOCAL AREA THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. WITH SOME CLOUD COVER EXPECTED TO PERSIST ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS OVERNIGHT...EXPECT ANOTHER NIGHT OF RELATIVELY WARM TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION...WITH LOWS EXPECTED TO BOTTOM OUT ONLY NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW FREEZING BY EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. ALL INDICATIONS ARE THAT CLOUD COVER WILL THIN ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY...WITH ANOTHER DRY AND UNSEASONABLY WARM AFTERNOON EXPECTED AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE ATTEMPTS TO BUILD IN ACROSS THE PLAINS. .LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. MAIN FORECAST CONCERN WILL BE TEMPERATURES. TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN WARM FRIDAY NIGHT WITH BREEZY CONDITIONS AND WARM ADVECTION. AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE AND SURFACE COLD FRONT MOVE THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA ON SATURDAY. THERE ARE SOME MINOR DIFFERENCES WITH THE COLD FRONT. THE NAM IS A LITTLE FASTER WITH THE FRONT THAN THE GFS AND ECMWF. THE ECMWF ALSO IS SLOWER TO BRING IN COLDER AIR BEHIND THE FRONT WITH MOST OF THE COLD AIR NOT MOVING INTO THE AREA UNTIL SUNDAY. ONE THING THE MODELS ALL AGREE ON IS WIND BEHIND THE FRONT SATURDAY. THERE IS A TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT AND WITH WINDS AT 850MB BETWEEN 45 AND 60 KTS...EXPECT WINDY CONDITIONS. WILL CONTINUE WITH THE DRY FORECAST ALTHOUGH THE NAM BRINGS THROUGH SOME MOISTURE IT WILL LIKELY JUST BE SOME CLOUDS. BY SUNDAY ALL OF THE MODELS HAVE COLD AIR ACROSS THE REGION AND TEMPERATURES WILL BE MUCH COOLER THAN SATURDAY. THE WINDS WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING AHEAD OF A COLD SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE COLD ON MONDAY BUT WILL STILL BE AT OR JUST ABOVE SEASONAL NORMALS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. FINALLY ON TUESDAY THE SURFACE HIGH MOVES TO THE EAST AND THERE WILL BE SOME WARM ADVECTION. DURING THIS TIME THERE WILL ALSO BE AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE THAT WILL BUILD ACROSS THE REGION. TEMPERATURES WILL BE ON A WARMING TREND FROM TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1151 AM CST THU DEC 29 2011/ AVIATION...18Z KGRI TAF...LOTS OF MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM ACROSS THE TERMINAL THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...HOWEVER...VFR VISIBILITIES AND CEILINGS ARE EXPECTED TO PREVAIL. COULD SEE A COUPLE OF SPRINKLES DURING THE EARLY EVENING HOURS...BUT THESE AT NOT EXPECTED TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON AVIATION CONDITIONS. WINDS WILL BE GENERALLY WESTERLY THROUGH THE PERIOD...INCREASING TO NEAR 20KTS AFT 30/13Z. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. KS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...ROSSI LONG TERM...JCB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 334 AM CST THU DEC 29 2011 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 301200- PHILLIPS-SMITH-JEWELL-ROOKS-OSBORNE-MITCHELL-VALLEY-GREELEY-NANCE- SHERMAN-HOWARD-MERRICK-POLK-DAWSON-BUFFALO-HALL-HAMILTON-YORK- GOSPER-PHELPS-KEARNEY-ADAMS-CLAY-FILLMORE-FURNAS-HARLAN-FRANKLIN- WEBSTER-NUCKOLLS-THAYER- 334 AM CST THU DEC 29 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. SUSTAINED NORTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH...ACCOMPANIED BY GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH...WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS (ALL LOWERCASE) BRYANT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
459 PM CST THU DEC 29 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0449 PM TSTM WND GST 3 E SMITHFIELD 40.57N 99.68W
12/29/2011 E55 MPH GOSPER NE PUBLIC
&&
GUERREROThe Grand Island radar (KUEX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:03 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A 60 foot tall empty grain bin, which was not well secured to the ground, was destroyed by wind gusts estimated at 55 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, December 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: 355125.