Thunderstorms developed across Nebraska on the evening of September 23rd along a weak surface boundary as a larger upper level system moved northeast through the central Plains. These storms produced large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rain over portions of central Nebraska with reports of hail as large as ping pong balls and winds as strong as 60 miles per hour.
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 LBF wrote it up.
Thunderstorms developed across Nebraska on the evening of September 23rd along a weak surface boundary as a larger upper level system moved northeast through the central Plains. These storms produced large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rain over portions of central Nebraska with reports of hail as large as ping pong balls and winds as strong as 60 miles per hour.
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 Sep 23, 2:35 PM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 335 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 .SYNOPSIS... ISSUED AT 335 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 UPPER LEVEL LOW SPINNING NEAR THE NEB/S DAKOTA BORDER THIS AFTERNOON. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS PUSHING EAST WITH STILL SOME LINGER STRATUS ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA. MEANWHILE A SFC TROUGH/WIND SHIFT IS PUSHING ACROSS WESTERN NEBRASKA. WINDS SOUTHERLY AHEAD OF THE TROUGH...WITH WESTERLY WINDS BEHIND. MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION HAS ALLOWED TEMPS TO WARM INTO THE MID 70S TO MID 80S...WARMEST ACROSS THE SW. FAR EASTERN CWA STILL IN THE 60S DUE TO THE LOW CLOUDS. A FEW RAIN SHOWERS...WRAPPING AROUND THE UPPER LOW ACROSS NW NEB...INTO N CENTRAL. && .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY) ISSUED AT 335 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH EAST OVERNIGHT. INSTABILITY IS INCREASING THIS AFTERNOON ALONG/AHEAD OF THE TROUGH LINE. NEAR TERM MODELS ARE SHOWING A WEAKENING CAP WITH A BROKEN LINE OF STORMS TO FIRE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. THE RUC IS MORE ROBUST THAN THE OTHER MODELS...ALTHOUGH BOTH THE HRRR OR THE NAM DO DEVELOP A LINE. SHEAR IS MARGINAL...30 KTS OR LESS...AND NARROW BAND OF LESS THAN A 1000 J/KG OF CAPE SO WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. CANNOT RULE OUT A STRONG STORM OR TWO...ESPECIALLY FROM HAIL AS FREEZING LEVELS IS CLOSE TO 13000 FT ASL. THE ACTIVITY WILL QUICKLY PUSH EAST WITH ANY STORMS PUSHING EAST OF THE CWA BY MORNING. MEANWHILE SOME DRY AIR TO FILL IN BEHIND THE TROUGH. MODELS SUGGESTING A DRY LAYER TO TRAP SOME LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS N CENTRAL TOWARDS MORNING WHICH COULD RESULT IN SOME FOG...AND CONTINUED TO MENTION PATCHY FOG AFTER SHOWERS END. TOMORROW DRY AIR CONTINUES TO SPREAD ACROSS THE CWA WITH CLEARING SKIES AND A NICE WARM UP ACROSS THE BOARD AS RIDGE BUILDS ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES. MOST AREAS SHOULD PUSH INTO THE 80S...WITH THE FAR WESTERN ZONES NEARING 90. .LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY) ISSUED AT 335 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT... THIS PERIOD WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED BY AN AMPLIFIED UPPER TROUGH MOVING ONTO THE WEST COAST AND A POSITIVELY TILTED UPPER RIDGE EXTENDING ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES INTO THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PLAINS. SUNNY SKIES AND HIGHS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY IN THE MID TO UPPER 80S. THESE HIGHS TO BE AT LEAST 10 TO 15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. SOUTHERLY WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH THURSDAY TO INCREASE TO 15 TO 25 MPH BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. MILD EACH NIGHT WITH LOWS ALSO 10 TO 15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL RANGING FROM 55 TO 60. SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... THE UPPER TROUGH/CLOSED LOW ALONG THE WEST COAST ON SATURDAY WILL LIFT NORTHEAST INTO WYOMING AND MONTANA BY MONDAY. THE 12Z ECMWF IS ABOUT 12-18 HRS FASTER WITH THE UPPER TROUGH THAN THE 12Z GFS. WITH THE 12Z GEM IN CLOSE AGREEMENT WITH THE ECMWF...PREFERENCE LIES WITH THE ECMWF. LATEST SUPERBLEND POPS FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE SUNDAY NIGHT WITH NEAR 30 POPS MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT LOOK ON TRACK. BY TUESDAY...H5 HEIGHT DIFFERENCE ARE NEAR 120 METERS ACROSS IDAHO AND UTAH. THIS IS DUE TO THE GFS WITH ZONAL FLOW ACROSS THE REGION AND THE ECMWF FORECASTING AN UPPER TROUGH. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL IN THE LOWER 80S SATURDAY AND UPPER 70S SUNDAY...COOLING TO NEAR NORMAL IN THE MID 70S MONDAY AND TUESDAY. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 105 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 MVFR CIGS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PORTIONS OF N CENTRAL NEBRASKA...EAST OF KVTN. MEANWHILE AN UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL ROTATE ACROSS NORTHERN NEBRASKA. AS THE LOW MOVES ACROSS THE AREA ISOLD/SCT SHOWERS AND A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. THIS HAS A CHANCE TO IMPACT KVTN...AND DID INCLUDE IN THE KVTN TAF. THE FORECAST DOES REMAIN VFR...ALTHOUGH A BRIEF REDUCTION IN VSBY CAN NOT BE RULED OUT IN STRONGER ISOLD STORMS. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE THE SHOWERS MAY IMPACT KLBF...ALTHOUGH CONFIDENCE IS LOW AND NO MENTION IN TAF AT THIS TIME. OVERNIGHT INTO TOMORROW SKIES CLEAR WITH LOCALLY PATCHY FOG POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...MASEK SHORT TERM...MASEK LONG TERM...ROBERG AVIATION...MASEK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 341 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-242045- 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- 341 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 /241 PM MDT TUE SEP 23 2014/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. ISOLATED STRONG TO BRIEFLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE AREA OF CONCERN IS GENERALLY EAST OF HIGHWAY 83...OR EAST OF A VALENTINE TO NORTH PLATTE LINE. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE HAIL AND WIND DAMAGE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY AND MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && GET YOUR WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL...AND CLIMATE INFORMATION AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE (ALL LOWERCASE) MASEK
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 453 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 NEZ026-038-232245- BLAINE NE-CUSTER NE- 453 PM CDT TUE SEP 23 2014 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHWESTERN CUSTER AND BLAINE COUNTIES UNTIL 545 PM CDT... AT 452 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR DUNNING...OR 19 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BREWSTER...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... BREWSTER... DUNNING... ANSELMO... LINSCOTT... THIS INCLUDES HIGHWAY 2 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 229 AND 258. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A STURDY BUILDING. TORRENTIAL RAIN...WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND UNDERPASSES...IS ALSO LIKELY. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ON A FLOODED ROADWAY. BUTTLER
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:52 UTC.
4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Public reported 60 mile per hour winds and pea size hail as storm moved through.
Heavy rain fell in the Anselmo area between 5:00 p.m. CST and 6:00 p.m. CST, with 1.75 inches being measured in that time. Heavy rain fell across other parts of Custer County as thunderstorms passed, with additional reports including 2.25 inches 7 miles west northwest of Merna, 2.22 inches 7 miles southwest of Ansley, and 1.80 inches 3 miles south southwest of Callaway.
Dime size hail and 50 mile per hour winds were observed with the passing storm.
Damaging winds of 60 miles per hour were observed as the thunderstorm passed.
Ping pong ball size hail fell as the thunderstorm passed.
Quarter size hail fell from the passing thunderstorm.
Quarter size hail fell as the thunderstorm passed, along with 40 to 50 mile per hour winds and heavy rain.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, September 2014
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: 539109, 539108, 539101, 539112, 539103, 539104, 539106.