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.
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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 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, 15 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 434 PM CDT WED JUL 27 2011 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-281145- 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- 434 PM CDT WED JUL 27 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL IOWA...EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND THURSDAY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80...AND AGAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS THE AREA. INITIAL THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING MAY FORM ALONG A WEAK BOUNDARY RESIDING ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE PRIMARY HAZARDS...HOWEVER AN ISOLATED TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT EARLY THIS EVENING. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATER TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES SOUTH INTO THE REGION. 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...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...ESPECIALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80. A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO STALL ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS THROUGH NORTHERN MISSOURI...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 REQUESTED TONIGHT AND THURSDAY AFTERNOON. FOBERT
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
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:03 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph downed large tree limbs across the Seward area.
A thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph was recorded by the Awos near Wahoo.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at around 60 mph caused scattered tree damage in the Omaha area which knocked out power to around 11,000 OPPD customers. Known tree damage included an eight inch in diameter tree limb downed near 144th and Blondo, a large limb down on a road near 45th and H Streets and a large tree downed on 55th Street just south of Dodge Street. A measured wind gust of 56 mph was recorded at the NWS office with this storm at 358 am CDT. Heavy rain in a short time also caused some minor street flooding east of 42nd Street.
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, 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: 317805, 317803, 317802.