A cold front slowly moved south during the afternoon on August 4th into eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. The front neared the Interstate 80 corridor by late afternoon.
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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 cold front slowly moved south during the afternoon on August 4th into eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. The front neared the Interstate 80 corridor by late afternoon. In addition, an outflow boundary from early storms in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa was lifting north. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms developed during peak heating along these two boundaries. Due to the combination of the thunderstorms developing on the stalling boundaries and very steep low-level lapse rates two landspout tornadoes were observed. Otherwise the thunderstorms were largely non-severe with gusty non-severe winds and heavy rainfall.
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 1, 2:06 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 306 PM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 .SHORT TERM...(tonight through Wednesday night) Issued at 242 PM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 Latest subjective surface analysis shows fairly tight gradient across eastern Nebraska between a broad area of low pressure across the western Plains and high pressure across the Great Lakes. Surface winds have been pretty gusty out of the southeast today which we think was due in part to outflow from earlier morning convection across Iowa in combination with the tightening surface pressure gradient. Otherwise...a low pressure trough extends from north central South Dakota into the Nebraska Panhandle this afternoon. Latest satellite and radar show a bit of activity developing across central Nebraska near the surface trough and CAMs continue to push this development eastward through the evening as weak mid level wave moves east across Nebraska. Forecaster confidence on how the evening will play out is fairly low so am only carrying a small chance pop into the overnight. The surface trough will continue to move east overnight and is forecast to extend from western Kansas into northwestern Iowa and continued convection cannot be ruled out around this boundary through Tuesday morning. Wednesday looks warmer and mostly dry as southeasterly winds increase. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Monday) Issued at 242 PM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 A high pressure dome will be centered over the south central CONUS at the beginning of the period with a shortwave trough moving across the Northern Plains. This will allow a cold front to drop south across the area Thursday with thunderstorms possible during the daytime hours but possibly moreso overnight into Friday morning as a series of shortwaves move through west southwesterly flow monsoonal flow. Behind the cold front...some heat relief is expected with forecast highs nearly 10 degrees below normal. Although we don't expect a washout for the weekend, we will carry chances of showers and thunderstorms through the duration as a series of mid level shortwaves take aim at the region. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Tuesday afternoon) Issued at 1225 PM CDT Mon Aug 1 2016 MVFR ceilings around early this afternoon should end and overall coverage of TSRA in the area should decrease. Then look for VFR conditions outside of any convective activity into tonight. Southeast winds will slowly diminish the rest of the afternoon. As winds aloft increase tonight...low level wind shear is expected to develop tonight. && .OAX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NE...None. IA...None. && SHORT TERM...Kern LONG TERM...Kern AVIATION...Miller
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 421 PM CDT MON AUG 1 2016 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-021130- 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- 421 PM CDT MON AUG 1 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 TUESDAY THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA THROUGH THE EVENING...WITH LARGE HAIL BEING THE PRIMARY HAZARD. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN COULD OCCUR WITH ANY STORMS THROUGH THE NIGHT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THROUGH THE EVENING FROM NORTHEAST NEBRASKA INTO WEST CENTRAL IOWA. THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO SPREAD EAST AND SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REST OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA DURING THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT...HOWEVER SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THERE WILL BE A LINGERING CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE MORNING TUESDAY...MAINLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80. AGAIN SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. HEAT INDEX READINGS TUESDAY AFTERNOON WILL LIKELY REACH THE 98 TO 105 RANGE IN MUCH OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY HOT AND HUMID WEATHER WILL CONTINUE FROM TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. HEAT INDEX READINGS OF 100 TO 105 WILL BE POSSIBLE ALL THREE DAYS...ESPECIALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF AN AREA FROM COLUMBUS TO TEKAMAH TO ATLANTIC. PERIODS OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FROM THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS A FRONTAL SYSTEM ENTERS THEN STALLS ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR TUESDAY.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA
1024 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016
IAZ055-056-011600-
SHELBY IA-HARRISON IA-
1024 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHERN SHELBY AND NORTHEASTERN
HARRISON COUNTIES UNTIL 1100 AM CDT...
AT 1023 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 5
MILES SOUTHEAST OF DUNLAP...OR 16 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DENISON...MOVING
EAST AT 40 MPH.
NICKEL SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
HARLAN...EARLING...IRWIN...DEFIANCE...PANAMA...WESTPHALIA...
KIRKMAN AND MANTENO RECREATION AREA.
THIS INCLUDES HIGHWAY 59 IN IOWA BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 80 AND 91.
LAT...LON 4173 9560 4186 9556 4187 9523 4185 9510
4161 9510
TIME...MOT...LOC 1523Z 281DEG 36KT 4181 9553
MILLERThe Omaha radar (KOAX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:19 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief landspout tornado was reported via social media. The tornado was small and last only a couple of minutes with no damage reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2016Warnings in Nebraska, August 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: 648265.