Hail in Nebraska, October 11, 2011

Name: Hail in Nebraska, October 11, 2011
Start: 2011-10-11T16:01
End: 2011-10-11T19:06
Location: Nebraska

October 11, 2011 · NWS GID · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

In what would end up being the final round of strong thunderstorms of the 2011 convective season in South Central Nebraska, this late Tuesday afternoon and evening featured several storms producing sub-severe hail up to penny size across the eastern half of the area. Although the coverage of multicell storm clusters became fairly widespread during the evening hours, the majority of small hail reports were concentrated in portions of Webster, Polk and Hall Counties. Near Rosemont, and also several miles north of Osceola, copious amount of pea to dime size hail partially covered the ground. The first strong storms flared up around 430 PM CDT, with activity gradually expanding eastward through the evening hours. Although the occurrence of small hail lessened after 8 PM, storms didn't completely exit far eastern counties near the Highway 81 corridor until after 2 AM on the 12th. Rainfall wise, most areas registered no more than 0.25 to 0.75-inch, although observers in eastern portions of York and Nance Counties reported amounts in excess of 1 inch, including 1.70 inches near Waco.

Although the potential existed for a few of these storms to become marginally severe given the presence of around 1000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE mainly early in the event, weak deep-layer vertical wind shear only around 25 knots kept storm organization to a minimum. Aloft, the primary triggering mechanism was a modest mid-level shortwave swinging through the Plains. At the surface, storms focused along and east of a weakly-defined trough axis stretching north to south across Nebraska.

What forecasters said that day

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 Oct 11, 2:25 PM CST, 1 hour 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 11, 2:25 PM CST, 1 hour 36 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 11, 3:06 AM CST, 12 hours 55 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
406 AM CDT TUE OCT 11 2011

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-
121200-
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-
406 AM CDT TUE OCT 11 2011

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
TONIGHT...GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM ORD NEBRASKA TO
PHILLIPSBURG KANSAS. A FEW STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH HAIL TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH BEING THE PRIMARY CONCERNS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.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

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 11, 3:57 PM CST, 4 minutes before

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The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 4 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Webster

When: October 11, 4:01 PM CST
Where: Webster County, 3 mi SSE of Blue Hill
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 40.290, -98.428

Hail, Polk

When: October 11, 4:52 PM CST to 4:58 PM CST
Where: Polk County, 8 mi N of Osceola to 6 mi N of Osceola
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 41.296, -97.550

Hail, Webster

When: October 11, 5:56 PM CST to 6:01 PM CST
Where: Webster County, 2 mi SE of Rosemont
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 40.260, -98.343

Hail, Hall

When: October 11, 7:06 PM CST
Where: Hall County, 2.32 mi SSE of Grand Is
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: Law Enforcement
Coordinates: 40.890, -98.330

Hail was reported on the southeast side of Grand Island.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Nebraska in 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, October 2011

Sources

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 344933, 344935, 344938, 344939.