Thunderstorms developed along a frontal boundary in southern Custer and Frontier counties on the evening of July 9th. Two landspout tornadoes were reported prior to thunderstorms quickly became severe and producing hail up to the size of baseballs.
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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 LBF wrote it up.
Thunderstorms developed along a frontal boundary in southern Custer and Frontier counties on the evening of July 9th. Two landspout tornadoes were reported prior to thunderstorms quickly became severe and producing hail up to the size of baseballs.
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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 9, 2:09 PM CST, 2 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 309 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 .SYNOPSIS... ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 CURRENT SYNOPTIC PATTERN IS MARKED BY A LARGE UPPER RIDGE STRETCHING FROM THE GREAT BASIN INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...WITH SEVERAL SHORTWAVE TROUGHS EMBEDDED IN STRONGER WESTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE NORTHERN TIER OF THE CONUS AND INTO THE GREAT LAKES. ONE OF THESE SHORTWAVE TROUGHS WAS MOVING ACROSS EASTERN MONTANA AND THE DAKOTAS...HELPING TO SEND A WEAK SFC FRONT SOUTH INTO THE CWA. CURRENT SFC CONDITIONS IN WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA WERE WARM AND HUMID...WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 80S AND 90S AND DEW POINTS ABOVE 65 DEGREES IN MANY LOCATIONS. && .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY) ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 A FEW ISOLATED STORMS MAY DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA AS STRONG SFC INSTABILITY HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF AHEAD OF A SLOWLY MOVING FRONT...HOWEVER THE MUCH MORE FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT REMAINS OFF TO OUR SOUTH AND EAST. MOST HI-RES MODELS KEEP PRECIP OUT OF OUR CWA. SFC HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE DAKOTAS TONIGHT...BRINGING EASTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW TO OUR AREA. MODELS SHOW THUNDERSTORM CHANCES BEGINNING AROUND OR JUST AFTER 06Z...THEN DIVERGE ON THEIR HANDLING OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVERNIGHT AND INTO THE MORNING HOURS. GIVEN THE MOIST EASTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW AND EASTERLY 20-30 KT LLJ FOCUSED INTO THE PANHANDLE HAVE LEFT ISOLATED POPS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT. STORM CHANCES CONTINUE INTO THE DAYTIME TOMORROW...WITH THE FOCUS ALONG A SFC TROUGH THAT STALLS ALONG THE LEE SIDE OF THE ROCKIES. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE TROUGH AND MOVE EAST. A FEW OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE GOING INTO THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS IN OUR FAR WESTERN ZONES AS MLCAPE INCREASES TO AROUND 1500 J/KG UNDERNEATH 35-45 KTS OF DEEP LAYER SHEAR. .LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY) ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED OFF THE HIGH PLAINS WILL DRIFT SOUTHEAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE MOST AREAS. SLIGHTLY BETTER 30 POPS ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...THE UPPER RIDGE AXIS WILL ROTATE ACROSS NEBRASKA. TEMPERATURES THURSDAY WILL REBOUND TO NEAR 95 EASTERN PANHANDLE AND SOUTHWEST AND UPPER 80S NORTHEAST. A RETURN SOUTHERLY FLOW WITH BREEZY CONDITIONS. A STRONG THERMAL RIDGE WILL BUILD IN FRIDAY AS A SURFACE TROUGH SLOWLY DROPS INTO THE NORTHWEST. HIGHS 100-105 POSSIBLE SOUTHWEST WITH UPPER 90S INTO NORTH CENTRAL. THE NAM AND GFS BOTH INDICATED CONVECTION DEVELOPING ALONG SURFACE TROUGH...WITH THE NAM MORE EXPANSIVE IN COVERAGE. INTRODUCED A SLIGHT CHANCE ACROSS THE NORTHWEST FRIDAY AFTERNOON. FOR FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. 20 TO 30 PERCENT CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. SLIGHT CHANCE LINGER INTO MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. HIGHS 95-100 SATURDAY TO LOWER SLIGHTLY TO THE UPPER 80S/LOWER 90S SUNDAY AND MONDAY...AND LOWER 90S TUESDAY. UPPER RIDGE INFLUENCE WILL BE TYPICAL FOR JULY. DEWPOINTS ALSO LOOK TO REMAIN ELEVATED IN THE MID 50S TO MID 60S...KEEPING HEAT INDICES IN THE 90S DURING THE AFTERNOON. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 1235 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 VFR CONDITIONS ARE ANTICIPATED THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS IN WESTERN NEBRASKA. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD HOWEVER THE LIMITED AREAL COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY DOES NOT WARRANT MENTION IN THE TAF AT THIS TIME. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...MARTIN SHORT TERM...MARTIN LONG TERM...ROBERG AVIATION...MARTIN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 455 AM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-101000- SHERIDAN-EASTERN CHERRY-KEYA PAHA-BOYD-BROWN-ROCK-HOLT-GARDEN- GRANT-HOOKER-THOMAS-BLAINE-LOUP-GARFIELD-WHEELER-ARTHUR-MCPHERSON- LOGAN-CUSTER-DEUEL-KEITH-PERKINS-LINCOLN-CHASE-HAYES-FRONTIER- WESTERN CHERRY- 455 AM CDT TUE JUL 9 2013 /355 AM MDT TUE JUL 9 2013/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. A FRONT SAGGING SOUTH WILL BE THE FOCUS OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. THE PROBABILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL DECREASE QUICKLY THIS EVENING AS THE FRONT MOVES OUT OF THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN CENTRAL AND WESTERN NEBRASKA. THERE IS SOME RISK OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND IN THE EASTERN PANHANDLE AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA. EXCEPTIONALLY HOT WEATHER IS FORECAST FRIDAY OVER SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA WITH TEMPERATURES OF 100 OR A LITTLE ABOVE 100 FAIRLY WIDESPREAD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE JRS
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:12 UTC.
9 hail, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
At 1616CDT, a tornado touched down near 5 miles south of Oconto and moved northeast before dissipating less than a quarter mile in an open field. Average path width was 20 yards with no damage reported.
At 1615CDT, a tornado developed 14 miles south of Callaway and moved northeast before dissipating in open rangeland. The path width was 75 yards with no damage observed.
Ping pong sized hail reported at Mile Marker 291 on Highway 2.
Ground was covered with hen egg sized hail.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2013Warnings 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: 470461, 467424, 463320, 463321, 463323, 463322, 463325, 465677, 463326, 465678, 463327.