A deep area of low pressure slowly moved across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on the 20th into the 21st. An area of heavy rainfall associated with the low pressure led to minor flooding.
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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.
A deep area of low pressure slowly moved across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on the 20th into the 21st. An area of heavy rainfall associated with the low pressure led to minor flooding.
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 Apr 20, 5:17 PM CST, 2 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 617 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 .SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 333 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 EARLY AFTERNOON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATED THE CENTER OF THE UPPER LOW WAS LOCATED OVER E-CNTRL NEB/W-CNTRL IA AND WAS BECOMING VERTICALLY STACKED. THE BEST JUXTAPOSITION OF LARGE-SCALE FORCING FOR ASCENT...STRONG FRONTAL CIRCULATION AND WEAKER STATIC STABILITY WAS LOCATED OVER NORTHEAST NEB WHERE RAINFALL...SOME MODERATE...CONTINUES. AS THIS SYSTEM STARTS TO FILL THIS EVNG SHORT TERM MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT THE SYSTEM WILL SHIFT SEWD TOWARD SRN IA/NRN MO BY THU MRNG. THUS THE AREA OF RAIN OVER NORTHEAST NEB WILL SHIFT SEWD THROUGH ERN NEB AND WRN IA OVERNIGHT WHILE WEAKENING IN INTENSITY. WE WILL STILL LIKELY SEE SOME QUARTER TO HALF IN RAINFALL TOTALS OVERNIGHT THROUGH AS THIS BAND TRACKS TO THE SE. WE HAVE KEPT SOME POPS IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THU AFTN FOR SOME ISO SHRA ACTIVITY WITH STEEP MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND SUFFICIENT MOISTURE FOR SOME ISO SHRA PER POINT FORECAST SOUNDINGS. AS THE SFC RIDGE AXIS CROSSES THE CWA ON THU NIGHT AND INTO THE DAY ON FRI WE MAY SOME FOG DEVELOP...ALONG WITH SOME FAIRLY CHILLY TMPS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN CWA. ONCE THIS SYSTEM EXITS TO THE SOUTHEAST ON THURSDAY HEIGHT RISES AND WARMER TMPS SHOULD BE THE STORY HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND. RETURN FLOW WILL START ON FRI AND CONT THROUGH THE DAY ON SAT AHEAD OF UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED CDFNT FOR SUNDAY. MIXING TO JUST SHY OF 850 MB SEEMS REASONABLE BOTH DAYS...WHICH YIELDED HIGHS VERY CLOSE TO GOING FORECAST AND FEW CHANGES WERE MADE. .LONG TERM...(SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY) ISSUED AT 333 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 A STRONGER LOW-LEVEL JET WILL DEVELOP AHEAD THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM ON SAT NIGHT. ALL MODELS INDICATE ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE AND SOME LOWERING OF THE COND PRES DEF. IT APPEARS FOR THE LARGE PART THOUGH THAT THE CWA WILL BE DRY ON SAT NIGHT WITH MOISTURE QUALITY GENERALLY LACKING AND WARMING TEMPERATURES ALOFT. HAVE MAINTAINED SOME SCHC POPS IN THE NORTHWEST ON SUN NIGHT FOR AN ISO SHRA OR TWO ABOVE THE DEVELOPING EML IN THE REGION OF STEEPER MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES. THE GFS APPEARS TOO FAST IN THE FRONTAL PROGRESSION ON SUN AND PREFER A GEFS/EC/GEM TIMING OF THE FRONT. MODIFIED GULF MOISTURE WILL CONT TO ADVECT INTO THE AREA ON SUN WITH SOME LOWER TO MID 50 DEWS LIKELY BY AFTERNOON. THIS ALONG WITH SEASONABLY STEEP MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES SHOULD ALLOW FOR SOME MARGINAL INSTABILITY TO DEVELOP. NOT OVERLY EXCITED WITH THUNDERSTORM CHANCES ALONG THE FRONT GIVEN THE MOISTURE QUALITY BUT GIVEN THE TIME OF YEAR AND FRONT IN THE AREA WILL MAINTAIN SOME LOW-CHC POPS. THIS FRONT DROPS SOUTH OF OUR AREA ON MON AND WE SHOULD SEE DRY WEATHER THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM STARTS TO HEAD TOWARD THE CNTRL PLAINS ON TUE. THIS MAY SPREAD SOME RAIN INTO THE AREA BY LATE TUE...AND ESPECIALLY INTO THE DAY ON TUE NIGHT AND WED. && .AVIATION...(00Z TAFS FOR KOMA...KLNK...KOFK THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 620 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 FOR THE MOST PART...EXPECT MVFR CEILINGS. CURRENTLY KLNK WAS VFR BUT EXPECT LOWER CLOUDS TO MOVE BACK INTO THE AREA AS AREA OF PCPN SHIFTS SEWD. CONDITIONS WILL SLOWLY IMPROVE THU MORNING AS PCPN COVERAGE DECREASES AND TEMPS WARM SLIGHTLY. COULD SEE SCT -SHRA THU...ESPECIALLY LATE MORNING AND AFTN...BUT LEFT OUT OF TAFS FOR NOW. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && SHORT TERM...BOUSTEAD LONG TERM...BOUSTEAD AVIATION...MILLER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 413 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-211115- 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- 413 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 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 THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. A FEW STRONG STORMS COULD OCCUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR THURSDAY.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
715 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0713 PM HEAVY RAIN 5 WNW PERSIA 41.61N 95.66W
04/20/2016 M3.11 INCH HARRISON IA PUBLIC
TOTAL RAIN SINCE EARLY THIS MORNING.
&&
MILLERThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor flooding was observed along the Wahoo Creek from near Wahoo downstream to Ithaca.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, April 2016
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: 627842.