Isolated thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of July 2 on the backside of an upper level low pressure system. Modest instability and shear allowed one or two of these slowly moving storms to become severe with large hail.
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.
Isolated thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of July 2 on the backside of an upper level low pressure system. Modest instability and shear allowed one or two of these slowly moving storms to become severe with large hail.
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 2, 1:53 PM CST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 253 PM CDT TUE JUL 2 2013 .DISCUSSION... MODELS HAVE BEEN PERSISTENT THE LAST SEVERAL RUNS SHOWING A GRADUAL BREAKDOWN THIS WEEK OF BLOCKING PATTERN CURRENTLY PREVAILING OVER THE CONUS. BY NEXT WEEKEND LARGE SCALE FLOW TRANSITIONS TO FAST WESTERLIES BECOMING ESTABLISHED GENERALLY ALONG THE U.S./CAN BORDER...WHILE A DOME OF HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT ENCOMPASSES THE REST OF THE CONUS. FOR TONIGHT...MODELS ARE FOCUSING POSSIBLE CONVECTION DEVELOPING TWD MIDNIGHT OVER THE SRN CWA ALONG AXIS OF BNDRY LYR THETA-E CONVG AND INCREASING 850-500MB LAPSE RATES. OVERALL POTENTIAL THOUGH APPEARS WEAK. WED AFTN...DAYTIME HEATING LEADING TO AN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT AND THE NEXT ROUND OF POSSIBLE CONVECTION SOUTH. VORT ENERGY DROPPING DOWN BACKSIDE OF DEEP UPPER TROF WILL AID WITH DESTABILIZATION. UPPER LEVEL QVECT CONVG PROGGED OVER THE AREA SUGGESTS DPVA THE DOMINATE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR FOR FORCING GIVEN NO SIGNIFICANT MEAN LYR THERMAL ADVECTION ADVERTISED. DRY THEN WITH A WARMING TREND THURSDAY THRU SAT. HEADING INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...A SFC BNDRY DROPPING OUT OF THE NRN PLAINS IS PROGGED TO EVENTUALLY STALL SUNDAY MORNING FROM THE WRN GREAT LAKES TO WRN KS. GFS/ECM IN GOOD AGREEMENT SHOWING AMPLE MOISTURE POOLING ALONG THE BNDRY...PRECIP WATER AROUND 2" AND KI VALUES 45 OR GREATER. GFS AND ECM MEANDER THE BNDRY A BIT...BUT WITH IT REMAIN INVOF THE CWA THRU TUES...POTENTIAL SHOULD BE RELATIVELY HIGH FOR GENEROUS RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR SOME LOCATIONS. DEE && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFS FOR KOMA...KOFK...KLNK VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING INTO THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON WILL BRING A SCT/BKN MID LEVEL CU FIELD TO ALL 3 SITES. WE WILL CONT TO MENTION SOME SHOWERS IN THE OMA TAF WHERE COVERAGE IS EXPECTED TO BE A BIT HIGHER...BUT CANNOT TOTALLY RULED OUT AT OFK/LNK EITHER. SKIES SHOULD GO GENERALLY CLEAR TONIGHT WITH WINDS LIGHT THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && 99/99
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 502 PM CDT TUE JUL 2 2013 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-031215- 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- 502 PM CDT TUE JUL 2 2013 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 WEDNESDAY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE EARLY THIS EVENING. A FEW STORMS ARE POSSIBLE AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE...BUT SMALL HAIL IS POSSIBLE IN THE STRONGER STORMS BOTH THIS EVENING AND ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY PERIODS OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR WEDNESDAY. MAYES
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA 437 PM CDT TUE JUL 2 2013 IAZ079-080-022200- MILLS IA-MONTGOMERY IA- 437 PM CDT TUE JUL 2 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EASTERN MILLS AND WESTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTIES UNTIL 500 PM CDT... AT 433 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR EMERSON...OR 36 MILES EAST OF OMAHA...MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH BRIEF HEAVY RAIN. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... JUST WEST OF RED OAK...EMERSON...HASTINGS...HENDERSON AND COBURG. LAT...LON 4090 9520 4091 9554 4116 9545 4116 9520 TIME...MOT...LOC 2133Z 7DEG 21KT 4110 9534 DERGAN
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:29 UTC.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail as large as ping pong ball-size fell north of Western and west of Wilber for about 5 minutes. The hail partially shredded crops in the area and some accumulation was noted on roads.
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, July 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: 451298, 451299.