Pockets of wind damage and/or strong winds occurred with bowing convective line segments on this Wednesday night. Isolated supercells developed over western Nebraska late in the afternoon, with multiple tornadoes, spotty wind damage, and large hail occurring.
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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 GID wrote it up.
Pockets of wind damage and/or strong winds occurred with bowing convective line segments on this Wednesday night. Isolated supercells developed over western Nebraska late in the afternoon, with multiple tornadoes, spotty wind damage, and large hail occurring. During the evening hours, cell coverage increased leading to multiple cell mergers. By 9 p.m. CST, this resulted in several lines segments that stretched from Yankton, SD to Broken Bow to McCook. Two small bow echoes tracked through south central Nebraska, from Interstate 80 south to the state line, and another across central Nebraska which affected Valley and Greeley Counties. After 11 p.m. CST, the outflow from extensive thunderstorms over northeast Nebraska sagged to Interstate 80, from York west to Grand Island where it intersected the comma head of the bow echo moving across southern Nebraska. An east-west oriented line of storms developed along Interstate 80. Cell training between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. CST resulted in a swath of 2 to 3 inches of rain from eastern Hamilton County across central York County. The highest rainfall amount was 3.08 inches just east of the city of York. These bow echoes produced multiple measured gusts between 50 and 62 mph. Snapped tree limbs and blown over trees were most extensive in the city of Hastings and the towns of Greeley and Spalding.
A very weak cold front sagged into Nebraska the previous night and was located roughly along the southern state line at daybreak. As the day progressed, the front gradually lifted north as a warm front as low pressure over Wyoming deepened to 1000 mb. In the upper levels, the flow was zonal with the Westerlies confined to the northern third of the United States. A subtropical high was over Texas. 500 mb observations suggest there was a weak/subtle shortwave trough moving across the Central Plains, possibly aiding thunderstorm development. Just prior to thunderstorms moving into south central Nebraska, temperatures were in the middle 70s to lower 80s, and dewpoints ranged from the lower 60s west to the upper 60s east. Yet, mid-level lapse rates were very steep (8 degrees C/km), resulting in MLCAPE between 2000 and 4000 J/kg. Effective deep layer shear was around 50 kts.
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 Jul 6, 8:36 PM CST, 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hastings NE 936 PM CDT WED JUL 6 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 932 PM CDT Wed Jul 6 2016 Updated the forecast this evening to increase chances of showers/thunderstorms. Storms have become quite organized and have plenty of shear and mid-level instability to work with. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Thursday) Issued at 318 PM CDT Wed Jul 6 2016 Plenty of instability across the region this afternoon with a strong CAP inhibiting any convective development locally. If there is enough forcing to overcome this CAP...any storms that do develop will rapidly intensify and have the potential to become severe...which more than justifies the slight risk for severe weather the storm prediction center has advertised for much of the local area. That said...the confidence of the CAP being broken through the late afternoon hours appears very low...and consequently trimmed precipitation chances across much of the local area through the early evening hours. Thereafter...some short term model guidance is attempting to hold together the convection presently developing over the high plains and propagating it eastward across the local area during the early evening hours. While the HRRR appears to be one of the more aggressive solutions...and most guidance is dry...cannot completely rule out the chance for a line of storms developing with strong winds being the primary concern...and maintained this possibility in the forecast to coincide with a severe thunderstorm watch that was just issued. That said...The better chance for precipitation appears to come during the late evening through overnight hours as the main upper level disturbance brushes the northern/eastern fringes of the local forecast area. As the LLJ intensifies and feeds into this disturbance...expect this convection to maintain itself through the early morning hours Thursday...with cooler air filtering in behind this shortwave during the daytime hours. While there is some question in just how much low level stratus will filter in behind the wave...which could have a significant impact on temperatures...only tweaked down temps across south central Nebraska as the bulk of this stratus will be focused to our north/east. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Wednesday) Issued at 318 PM CDT Wed Jul 6 2016 Cooler air will continue to settle in across the entire forecast area Thursday night through Friday...as temperatures across the region return to near or just below seasonal norms Friday afternoon. While the daytime hours Friday look dry...expect a chance for thunderstorms to creep in from the southwest Friday night as the first of several upper level disturbances brushes the local area. As a result...expect periodic small chances for Thunderstorms across the local area Friday night through next Wednesday...with the best chance for more widespread precipitation coming next Monday night...as a stronger wave is currently forecast to cross the plains then. Temperature wise...do not anticipate a significant change in the overall airmass behind Thursdays cool front...with near seasonal temps forecast beyond Friday and into next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS through 00Z Thursday evening) Issued at 659 PM CDT Wed Jul 6 2016 Storms in the western High Plains are rolling this way, and could be in the vicinity for a few hours this evening, but coverage should be scattered. && .GID Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NE...None. KS...None. && UPDATE...Heinlein SHORT TERM...Rossi LONG TERM...Rossi AVIATION...Heinlein
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 930 PM CDT WED JUL 6 2016 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 071200- 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- 930 PM CDT WED JUL 6 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ACROSS THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS WILL PROPAGATE EAST ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS...WITH 60 MPH WINDS AND HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER BEING THE PRIMARY CONCERNS. THE FOCUS OF THIS ACTIVITY APPEARS TO BE WEST OF HIGHWAY 281...WITH ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE LATE THIS EVENING THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...ESPECIALLY NORTH OF THE NEBRASKA AND KANSAS STATE LINE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ON THURSDAY. IF THESE STORMS DEVELOP THEY COULD BE SEVERE WITH HAIL TO THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS AND DAMAGING WINDS TO 60 MPH. THE MAIN AREA WILL BE ALONG AND NORTHEAST OF A HEBRON TO ORD NEBRASKA LINE. THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 FRIDAY NIGHT AND THEN AGAIN OFF AND ON SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BE STRONG, BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO CONFIDENTLY ASSESS IF THEY WILL BE SEVERE. STAY TUNED TO LATER FORECASTS. HEAT INDICES WILL BE BETWEEN 100 TO 105 THURSDAY AFTERNOON MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A YORK NEBRASKA TO PHILLIPSBURG KANSAS LINE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS (ALL LOWERCASE) HEINLEIN
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1016 PM CDT WED JUL 06 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1013 PM TSTM WND GST ORD AIRPORT 41.62N 98.95W
07/06/2016 M51 MPH VALLEY NE ASOS
PEAK GUST SO FAR AT THE AIRPORT
&&
PBEDASPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1021 PM CDT WED JUL 6 2016
NEZ039>041-046-047-070400-
HOWARD NE-NANCE NE-GREELEY NE-SHERMAN NE-VALLEY NE-
1021 PM CDT WED JUL 6 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN VALLEY...HOWARD...
GREELEY...NORTHWESTERN NANCE AND SHERMAN COUNTIES UNTIL 1100 PM
CDT...
AT 1021 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG
A LINE EXTENDING FROM 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF SPALDING TO 7 MILES
NORTHWEST OF LITCHFIELD. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 55 MPH.
NICKEL SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS OF 50 TO 55 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THESE STORMS.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
ST. PAUL...LOUP CITY...SPALDING...GREELEY...SCOTIA...DANNEBROG...WOLBACH...
LITCHFIELD...ELBA...ASHTON...BOELUS...BELGRADE...FARWELL...ROCKVILLE...
HAZARD...COTESFIELD...CUSHING AND SHERMAN RESERVOIR DAM.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT FOR
CENTRAL NEBRASKA. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT
UNTIL 300 AM CDT FOR CENTRAL NEBRASKA.
LAT...LON 4148 9829 4148 9810 4149 9810 4150 9804
4151 9804 4151 9792 4129 9827 4139 9827
4139 9829 4128 9829 4105 9864 4105 9921
4118 9920 4174 9840 4174 9829
TIME...MOT...LOC 0321Z 266DEG 50KT 4177 9845 4124 9923
HEINLEINThe Grand Island radar (KUEX), 147 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:24 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Wind gusts were estimated to be between 60 and 70 MPH. Tree branches of an unknown size were downed.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH. Tree branches were downed in town.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH. Tree branches were downed in portions of town, some of which were several inches in diameter.
Wind gusts estimated to be between 60 and 70 MPH downed a large tree in town. This tree landed on a home, punching a hole through the bedroom ceiling. The tree also landed on power lines.
A total of 3.04 inches was measured since midnight.
A total of 3.08 inches was measured since midnight.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH. Penny size hail was also reported. There were several reports of larger tree branches downed and power outages across town. On the west side of Hastings, a large tree branch fell onto a vehicle, causing major damage. A tree uprooted near the high school in the middle of town was lying across 14th Street.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in tree damage in Marquette.
This gust occurred behind the squall line in a pressure minimum.
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, July 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: 641151, 641152, 641153, 641154, 650933, 646327, 646328, 641155, 641157, 641158, 641161, 644339, 641163.