Thunderstorms developed along and behind a cold front in northeast Nebraska late in the evening of August 31. The front was driven southeast by a relatively strong upper level trough dropping out of Canada toward the Great Lakes region.
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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.
Thunderstorms developed along and behind a cold front in northeast Nebraska late in the evening of August 31. The front was driven southeast by a relatively strong upper level trough dropping out of Canada toward the Great Lakes region. Other thunderstorms developed in the early morning hours of Sept 1 east of Beatrice. High amounts of instability present allowed a few of the storms to produce isolated wind damage in southeast Nebraska and also from a line that tracked southeast along the Missouri River from northeast Nebraska.
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 Aug 31, 10:48 PM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1148 PM CDT SAT AUG 31 2013 .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS FOR KOFK...KOMA AND KLNK. TIMING OF COLD FRONT PUSHING THROUGH ERN NEBRASKA WAS A LITTLE SLOWER THAN THOUGHT WITH 00Z ISSUANCE AND WIND FORECAST WAS ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY. ALSO WITH CONVECTION DEVELOPING SW INTO NERN NEBR TO THE NORTH OF KOFK...A TEMPO TSTM GROUP WAS MENTIONED AT KOFK TO BEGIN TAF PERIOD. WHETHER OR NOT ACTIVITY CAN MAINTAIN ITSELF FARTHER SE TOWARD KOMA AND KLNK WAS LESS CERTAIN. HOWEVER...TRENDS WILL BE MONITORED AND POSSIBLE TAF AMENDMENTS MAY BE NEEDED THROUGH 09-11Z AFTER WHICH ANY ACTIVITY SHOULD BE SE OF TAF SITES. AFTER THAT VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL AT SITES. CHERMOK .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 303 PM CDT SAT AUG 31 2013/ SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. SHORTWAVE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS SHOULD DRIVE A COLD FRONT THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. MID LEVEL TEMPS REMAIN QUITE WARM IN THE LOWER TO MID TEENS...BUT FORCING MAY BE STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME THIS. PREVIOUS FORECASTS HAVE MAINTAINED 20 TO 40 PERCENT POPS TONIGHT...AND LATEST GUIDANCE SUGGESTS THIS IS STILL REASONABLE... ALTHOUGH THE NAM WAS SUSPICIOUSLY ABSENT OF ALL CONVECTION IN OUR FORECAST AREA AND WOULD LEAVE MOST AREAS DRY. STILL APPEARS THAT THE GREATER THREAT MAY BE NORTH OF I80 THIS EVENING...AND STORM POTENTIAL MAY HOLD OFF ALONG I80 AND POINTS SOUTH UNTIL VERY LATE IN THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. WITH CONTINUE FORWARD PROGRESS OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY...COULD SEE LINGERING SHOWERS ALONG THE KS/NE AND MO/IA BORDER AREAS EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. BEYOND TONIGHT...THE REMAINDER OF THE SHORT TERM PERIOD LOOKS VERY PROMISING FOR COOLER...DRIER AND DOWNRIGHT PLEASANT WEATHER. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING IN BEHIND THE FRONT WILL BRING REFRESHING RELIEF TO THE RECENT HEAT WAVE SUNDAY AND ESPECIALLY LABOR DAY WITH ABUNDANT SUNSHINE. LOWS MONDAY MORNING SHOULD BE MOSTLY IN THE 50 AND HIGHS MONDAY AFTERNOON IN THE LOWER 80S. COULD SEE SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS TUESDAY MORNING IN THE UPPER 40S IN WESTERN IOWA AS THE RIDGE AXIS PASSES OVERHEAD. SOUTHERLY FLOW RETURNS BY TUESDAY WITH HIGHS BACK INTO THE MID/UPPER 80S WITH DRY WEATHER. LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. A WEAK WAVE MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS SHOULD DRIVE A COOL FRONT TOWARD THE AREA BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE LATEST GFS DOES NOT PUSH THIS FRONT THROUGH...WHILE CONSECUTIVE RUNS OF THE ECMWF HAVE INDICATED THAT IT COULD MAKE IT AT LEAST INTO PART OF THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. PREVIOUS FORECAST ALREADY HAD SMALL POPS ALONG/NORTH OF I80 WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND WILL LEAVE THOSE INTACT FOR CONSISTENCY SAKE. OTHERWISE...JUST A VERY BRIEF COOL DOWN ON THURSDAY...AND NOT BY MUCH...WITH TEMPS BACK INTO THE LOWER 90S BY SATURDAY WITH CONTINUED DRY WEATHER. DEWALD && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 506 PM CDT SAT AUG 31 2013 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-011215- 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- 506 PM CDT SAT AUG 31 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND SUNDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA THIS EVENING WITH THE RISK SHIFTING SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE I80 CORRIDOR LATE THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. IF STORMS DO MANAGE TO DEVELOP AND MOVE ACROSS THE REGION...THEY COULD BE SEVERE WITH STRONG WINDS THE PRIMARY HAZARD. ISOLATED LARGE HAIL WOULD ALSO BE POSSIBLE. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TRACKING INTO NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA WILL DRIVE A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING. THIS COMBINATION COULD BRING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO THE REGION. HOWEVER...WARM MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES...A MODEST LOW LEVEL JET AND MARGINAL WIND SHEAR COULD LIMIT THE COVERAGE OR CONCENTRATE IT MORE TOWARD FAR NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA. A FEW MOSTLY NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS COULD LINGER ACROSS FAR SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA SUNDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS ANOTHER DISTURBANCE AND FRONT MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. AT THIS TIME SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES APPEAR LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE THAT SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...AND THEN GENERALLY NORTH OF COLUMBUS NEBRASKA TO HARLAN IOWA. CHERMOK
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:53 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph downed trees in town and also caused some roof damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, August 2013
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: 465981.