m. on this Friday, featuring at least a brief period of sustained west winds of generally 30-40 MPH and gusts mainly into the 45-55 MPH range.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 GID wrote it up.
A somewhat rare, late-night high wind event swept from west-to-east across South Central Nebraska primarily between midnight-4 a.m. on this Friday, featuring at least a brief period of sustained west winds of generally 30-40 MPH and gusts mainly into the 45-55 MPH range. Although most automated weather sensors fell at least slightly short of breaching high wind warning criteria, Ord airport recorded a peak wind gust of 59 MPH at 3:25 a.m. Other peak gusts of at least 50 MPH at area airports included: 53 MPH at Kearney, 51 MPH at Hastings and Aurora, and 50 MPH at Grand Island. Although noticeably breezy conditions persisted well into the daylight hours, any lingering 40+ MPH gusts abated by sunrise. No precipitation fell during this event.
Unlike most cold season high wind episodes that occur during the day, this one was driven by unusually strong low-level winds and pressure rises/downward momentum transfer behind an eastward-surging cold front. This front trailed southward from a deep, roughly 990 millibar surface low that tracked across northern South Dakota during the night. In the mid-levels, and slightly south of the surface low track, a compact-but-strong disturbance moved along the NE/SD border area. One of the most striking features of this event was the intensity of winds a few thousand feet above the surface, as speeds at the 850 millibar level peaked at 60-80 knots. Fortunately, limited nocturnal mixing was unable to usher the full ferocity of these potentially very damaging winds down to the surface.
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 19, 12:04 AM CST, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1204 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 305 PM CST THU FEB 18 2016 FOCUS IS ON TEMPERATURES AND WIND DURING THE SHORT TERM PERIODS. THE PATTERN ALOFT FEATURED UPPER RIDGING IN THE INTERIOR CONUS IN BETWEEN TROUGHS ALONG THE WEST AND EAST COASTS. AN UNSEASONABLY WARM AIRMASS HAD SETTLED ONTO OUR REGION AND TEMPERATURES HAVE RISEN INTO THE 50S...60S...70S...TO AROUND 80 DEGREES ALREADY THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE WARMEST TEMPS ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. THE WEATHER PATTERN WILL UNDERGO CHANGES TONIGHT HOWEVER AS SHORTWAVE ENERGY TRANSLATES OUT OF THE ROCKIES AND ACROSS THE PLAINS TONIGHT...DRAGGING AN ASSOCIATED COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS OUR REGION. 3HR PRESSURE RISES BEHIND THE FRONT ARE EXPECTED TO AVERAGE AN IMPRESSIVE 6 TO 8MB AND FROPA IS EXPECTED TO BE NOTICEABLE... WITH A JUMP IN WIND SPEEDS FROM THE WEST/NORTHWEST. A CORRIDOR OF H85 WINDS IN THE 60 TO 70KT RANGE IS PROGGED TO CROSS OUR CWA IN THE 06Z TO 09Z TIME FRAME WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS ON THE NEBRASKA SIDE OF THE STATELINE. THESE INTENSE WINDS ARE ON THE ORDER OF 4 TO 5 STANDARD DEVIATIONS ABOVE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. THE BIGGEST QUESTION IS HOW MUCH OF THE STRONG WINDS WILL MIX TO THE SURFACE WITH THE NIGHTTIME TIMING OF THE FROPA WITH NOCTURNAL INVERSION EXPECTED TO BE PLACE. WILL NEED TO MONITOR STRENGTH OF INVERSION AND WIND SPEEDS CLOSELY TONIGHT AS WINDS JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE WILL BE VERY STRONG OVER 40 AND 50KTS. WILL PUT SOME FAITH IN MODELS AND EXPECT THE STRONGEST WINDS/WIND GUSTS OF POTENTIALLY HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA TO REMAIN TO THE NORTH AND WEST OF OUR CWA BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MENTION THE POTENTIAL FOR OVERNIGHT WIND GUSTS NEAR 50 MPH IN THE HWO. HEADING INTO FRIDAY THE AIRMASS COOLS AROUND 10C COMPARED TO TODAY FOLLOWING THAT COLD FRONT...BUT THE AIRMASS IS STILL WARM FOR FEBRUARY. A DOWNSLOPE WIND COMPONENT AND GOOD INSOLATION WILL AID IN WARMING AND HIGHS SHOULD AVERAGE IN THE 60S FOR THE MOST PART. WINDS ON FRIDAY WILL REMAIN STRONG/GUSTY THROUGH THE FIRST PART OF THE DAY BUT WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE DURING THE AFTERNOON AS THE SURFACE GRADIENT RELAXES. RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES ARE FORECAST TO DROP TO AROUND 20 PERCENT OR JUST BELOW IN THE AFTN ACROSS MUCH OF NC KANSAS AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND WITH SOME GUSTY WINDS AROUND FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE AFTN THESE CONDITIONS WOULD NORMALLY LEAD TO FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS HOWEVER WE ARE STILL AWAITING FOR FURTHER DRYING OF FUELS/GRASSES BEFORE ISSUING FIRE WEATHER HEADLINES. .LONG TERM...(FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY) ISSUED AT 305 PM CST THU FEB 18 2016 MAINLY NORTHWEST FLOW IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. THERE ARE A FEW MAINLY WEAK UPPER LEVEL WAVES THAT MOVE THROUGH THE AREA ALONG WITH MAINLY WEAK SURFACE FRONTS. HAVE KEPT THE FORECAST DRY AT THIS TIME AND TEMPERATURES ARE ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE FIRST WEAK WAVE AND FRONT MOVE THROUGH THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF WEATHER WITH THIS AND TEMPERATURES ON SATURDAY REMAIN ON THE WARM SIDE...IN THE 60S. A SURFACE HIGH BUILDS INTO THE AREA SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THERE IS A LITTLE WEAK COLD ADVECTION AND TEMPERATURES ON SUNDAY WILL DROP BACK INTO THE 50S AS COOLER AIR FILTERS INTO THE AREA. THE SURFACE HIGH MOVES TO THE EAST ON MONDAY AND EVEN WITH WINDS TURNING TO THE SOUTH THE TEMPERATURES WILL BE A LITTLE COOLER YET. THE STRONGEST OF THE UPPER LEVEL WAVES WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. HAVE KEPT THE FORECAST DRY FOR NOW...BUT WILL HAVE TO MONITOR THIS PERIOD. THE MODELS ARE TRYING TO BRING IN A LITTLE MOSTLY SPOTTY LOOKING PRECIPITATION TO THE AREA. THE AREA MOST LIKELY WOULD BE THE FAR WEST TO SOUTHWEST DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY...BUT THIS AREA HAS PRETTY DRY AIR IN THE LOWER LEVELS SO HAVE KEPT IT DRY. FOR WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY THE NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUES. THE ECMWF TRIES TO BRING A WAVE THROUGH THE AREA...BUT THE GFS DOES NOT. HAVE KEPT DRY CONDITIONS AND TEMPERATURES AROUND OR A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 06Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS THROUGH 06Z FRIDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 1158 PM CST THU FEB 18 2016 THE PRIMARY AVIATION CONCERN WILL BE THE STRONG WINDS AND LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR ESPECIALLY THE NEXT FEW HOURS UNTIL AROUND MID MORNING. WIND GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH ARE LIKELY OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS PRIOR TO DAWN AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH. THE WIND WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY BUT REMAIN OUT OF A GENERALLY WESTERLY DIRECTION. VFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITY WILL PREVAIL. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. KS...NONE. && SHORT TERM...FAY LONG TERM...JCB AVIATION...WESELY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1118 PM CST THU FEB 18 2016 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 191200- PHILLIPS-SMITH-JEWELL-ROOKS-OSBORNE-MITCHELL-VALLEY-GREELEY-NANCE- SHERMAN-HOWARD-MERRICK-POLK-DAWSON-BUFFALO-HALL-HAMILTON-YORK- GOSPER-PHELPS-KEARNEY-ADAMS-CLAY-FILLMORE-FURNAS-HARLAN-FRANKLIN- WEBSTER-NUCKOLLS-THAYER- 1118 PM CST THU FEB 18 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...OVERNIGHT. A SURGE OF VERY STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL OVERTAKE THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA FROM WEST-TO-EAST. THE VERY STRONGEST GUSTS WILL LIKELY OCCUR WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR AFTER THE STRONG WINDS ARRIVE...WITH SPEEDS UP TO AROUND 50 MPH LIKELY...AND PERHAPS EVEN UP TO AROUND 60 MPH IN SOME PLACES. ALTHOUGH IT WILL REMAIN WINDY THROUGH THE NIGHT...THE STRONGEST GUSTS ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR BEFORE 3 AM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. FRIDAY AFTERNOON...NEAR-CRITICAL FIRE DANGER IS POSSIBLE MAINLY ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 281 IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA DUE TO LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY OF 15 TO 25 PERCENT AND WEST WIND GUSTS 25 TO 35 MPH. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT...BUT ANY REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH...OR ANY POSSIBLE WIND DAMAGE...WOULD BE APPRECIATED. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS (ALL LOWERCASE) PFANNKUCH
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1206 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1202 AM NON-TSTM WND GST PHILLIPSBURG AIRPORT 39.74N 99.32W
02/19/2016 M51 MPH PHILLIPS KS AWOS
PEAK WESTERLY WIND GUST SO FAR BEHIND PASSING FRONT
&&
PFANNKUCHSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1213 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016 NEZ039-046-047-062-075-085-190715- VALLEY-SHERMAN-HOWARD-HALL-ADAMS-WEBSTER- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ORD...LOUP CITY...LITCHFIELD... ST. PAUL...GRAND ISLAND...HASTINGS...RED CLOUD...BLUE HILL... BLADEN 1213 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016 THROUGH THE PRE DAWN HOURS...A SURGE OF STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL AFFECT THE AREA BEHIND A PASSING COLD FRONT. WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO PERHAPS AROUND 55 MPH ARE LIKELY AT TIMES EARLY THIS MORNING. BE PREPARED FOR THE SUDDEN ONSET OF STRONG WESTERLY WINDS DURING THESE NEXT FEW HOURS. WESELY
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1250 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1230 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 S STOCKTON 39.35N 99.27W
02/19/2016 M53 MPH ROOKS KS AWOS
PEAK WESTERLY WIND GUST SO FAR BEHIND FRONT AT ROOKS
COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT.
&&
PFANNKUCHSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 103 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016 KSZ005-006-017-018-190900- PHILLIPS-SMITH-ROOKS-OSBORNE- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PHILLIPSBURG...SMITH CENTER... KENSINGTON...PLAINVILLE...STOCKTON...OSBORNE...DOWNS 103 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016 THROUGH THE PRE DAWN HOURS...A SURGE OF STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL AFFECT THE AREA BEHIND A PASSING COLD FRONT. WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO PERHAPS AROUND 55 MPH ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES EARLY THIS MORNING. BE PREPARED FOR THESE STRONG WESTERLY WINDS DURING THESE NEXT FEW HOURS.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
228 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0215 AM NON-TSTM WND GST KEARNEY AIRPORT 40.73N 99.01W
02/19/2016 M53.00 MPH BUFFALO NE AWOS
PEAK WESTERLY WIND GUST REPORTED SO FAR TONIGHT
&&
PFANNKUCHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
303 AM CST FRI FEB 19 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0159 AM NON-TSTM WND GST ORD AIRPORT 41.62N 98.95W
02/19/2016 M57.00 MPH VALLEY NE ASOS
PEAK WESTERLY GUST SO FAR TONIGHT. REPORTED AS 50KT ON
PEAK WIND METAR BUT ASOS CONVERSION IS 57 MPH.
&&
PFANNKUCHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A 59 mph wind gust was recorded at Evelyn Sharp Field.
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, February 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: 612270.