June kicked off with a round of active weather on this Friday evening, as a squall line/linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) tracked across the majority of South Central Nebraska from north-to-south. Fortunately, severe weather reports were fairly limited in number and primarily concentrated within northern counties, with convection exhibiting a gradually-weakening trend as it sank south of…
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 GID wrote it up.
June kicked off with a round of active weather on this Friday evening, as a squall line/linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) tracked across the majority of South Central Nebraska from north-to-south. Fortunately, severe weather reports were fairly limited in number and primarily concentrated within northern counties, with convection exhibiting a gradually-weakening trend as it sank south of the Interstate 80 corridor. Among the highlights of this event included a brief tornado just east of Ord, ping pong ball size hail near Loup City, and numerous broken tree branches up to 6 inches in diameter near Shelby. This storm complex was largely non-severe farther south, although a mesonet station in southwestern Clay County managed to clock an isolated 58 MPH gust.
As for timing, the initial severe storms of the afternoon/early-evening developed slightly north of the local area, and it wasn't until 830-930 p.m. CDT that quasi-linear convection entered Valley/Sherman/Greeley counties. Over the next few hours, this squall line expanded farther southwest, while also becoming more west-east oriented and gradually losing overall-intensity. Eventually, between 230-330 a.m. CDT on the 2nd, storms departed into Kansas from far southeastern local counties such as Nuckolls/Thayer. From a meteorological perspective, this was a fairly classic late-spring severe weather setup. In the mid-upper levels, a shortwave trough tracked from the northern/central Rockies toward the Dakotas between the 1st and the 2nd, with Nebraska along the southern periphery of strongest forcing. At the surface, Nebraska resided in between primary low pressure centers during the evening, with one mainly over ND and the other in western KS. Severe storms initially developed along a pre-frontal trough, with the actual north-south oriented cold front passing through South Central Nebraska during the overnight hours. Ahead of these boundaries, a very unstable airmass developed locally, with early evening temperatures around 90 F and dewpoints around 70 F yielding mixed-layer CAPE around 3000 J/kg. Combined with moderate deep-layer (0-6 km) shear of 30-40 knots and a strengthening nocturnal low level jet of 40+ knots, this was a somewhat volatile environment for severe weather. However, overall storm severity ended up underachieving somewhat locally. For one thing, the early-onset of a linear storm mode likely muted the large hail threat. Secondly, the more concentrated swath of severe-criteria winds ended up targeting eastern Nebraska more so than south central parts of the state.
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 Jun 1, 5:23 PM CST, 2 hours 51 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hastings NE 623 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Saturday) Issued at 301 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 Ahead of an approaching cold front, an axis of instability is quite evident just west of the tri-cities where dew points in the lower 70s have pooled and cumulus have already formed. MLCAPES of at least 4000 J/kg in a narrow corridor will encourage rapid growth of convection once the cap erodes. Thunderstorms are already forming in the Sandhills and will eventually zip south and edge into our CWA by 23Z to 01Z time range. This will be a critical time to watch any discrete convection that forms as hodographs indicate potential for tornadoes with lowered LCL and backed winds at the surface. Very large hail with strong downdrafts is anticipated. Storms will congeal into a line by about 03Z to 04Z and will form an organized line of storms which may exhibit derecho-like qualities. Looking for potential of 70-80 mph wind gusts with this line. Also, storms may lay out an outflow boundary that may stall for several hours this evening and early overnight and with a developing solid low-level jet, this may sustain training cells which could give us flash flooding issues. Subsidence behind the cold front will dry things out quickly for Saturday, but wind will be noticeably strong for especially Saturday morning, and dewpoints much drier. I have increased wind speeds significantly. I lowered highs a tad into the mid 70s to around 80 for most locations Saturday with the cooler air mass. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Friday) Issued at 301 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 The relatively cooler air near season norms will be around for Monday, but the upper ridge will heat things up for later in the week. However, the ridge may erode enough to allow perturbations to round the ridge and give us chances of precip/thunderstorms during the week. Still too early to tell how much of any severe chances we will have. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS through 00Z Saturday) Issued at 616 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 Main concern for this TAF period lies with thunderstorm chances later this evening. Not much going on at this point near the terminal areas, but activity currently to the NNW is expected to expand in coverage and slide SSE later this evening. Have activity ending at the terminals at 10Z, confidence in the exact timing isn't the highest. The current gusty SSE winds will become more variable in direction as the convection moves in, eventually turning NWrly as the cold front pushes through. Gusty winds winds are expected once again tomorrow. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. KS...None. && SHORT TERM...Heinlein LONG TERM...Heinlein AVIATION...ADP
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Hastings NE 253 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 021200- 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- 253 PM CDT Fri Jun 1 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight. Severe thunderstorms are possible late this afternoon through tonight across the outlook area. The main time frame for possible severe weather will be between 7 pm and 1 am. The primary threats will be wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph, hail up to 2 inches or more in diameter, along with a possible tornado or two. Locally heavy rain is also possible, with flash flooding possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday. Off and on chances of thunderstorms are expected between Sunday night and Thursday. It is still too early to determine if there is a threat for severe weather. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is expected mainly between 7pm and 1 am. && More information may be obtained at the following web page: https://www.weather.gov/hastings Heinlein
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
912 PM CDT FRI JUN 1 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0908 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 6 SSW ELYRIA 41.60N 99.05W
06/01/2018 VALLEY NE EMERGENCY MNGR
REPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD WEST OF ORD.
&&
MANGELSThe North Platte radar (KLNX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:13 UTC.
6 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm chaser captured video of a brief touchdown slightly east of Ord. Winds were estimated at 80 mph, and there was no reported damage.
Numerous broken tree branches occurred, with up to 6 inch diameter for the largest tree branches. This occurred from strong outflow ahead of a line of thunderstorms moving in.
This peak wind gust was recorded from a personal weather station located 4 miles east of Pauline.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2018Warnings in Nebraska, June 2018
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: 758572, 758100, 758101, 758102, 766682, 758511, 758509, 758510, 758514.