A campfire sparked a 600 acre range fire at the Nebraska National Forest on November 16th. The fire consumed mainly grassland and did not move into forested areas of the National Forest.
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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 LBF wrote it up.
A campfire sparked a 600 acre range fire at the Nebraska National Forest on November 16th. The fire consumed mainly grassland and did not move into forested areas of the National Forest.
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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 16, 5:22 PM CST, 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service North Platte NE 522 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Sunday night) Issued at 242 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 Near term concerns revolve around precipitation chances tonight across portions of the local area. Stout h5 shortwave continues to approach the area from the northwest. The combination of vorticity advection and mid-level frontogenesis will be enough to lead to the development of scattered rain showers tonight across the much of the eastern Panhandle into portions of the Sandhills and southwest Nebraska. Plentiful dry air will once again delay the start of these showers, however, as dew point depressions range from 20 to 30 degrees plus across the local area. Thinking the low-levels will saturate as the evening progresses and lift increases. Some modest lapse rates may manage to produce a few pockets of elevated instability as well, but will stop short of mentioning any thunder given low-confidence of this. Main vort-max will move into the area in the 03-06z timeframe with main focus being across the southern Panhandle into southwest Nebraska. As such, did increase PoPs in these areas but kept them limited to chance for now. Upped QPF across these areas as well, with upwards of a tenth of an inch of rain possible through 09z tonight. Did increase overnight low temperatures slightly given the increased low-level moisture and cloud cover across the area. Skies should become mostly clear for areas west of Highway 183 by sunrise Sunday. Should areas clear out quicker in the west, will have to watch for the potential of patchy fog. Thinking h85 winds will remain too strong though and with low probabilities from the SREF, will leave out of the forecast. Temperatures will settle into the mid 20s west to mid 30s east for Sunday morning. Surface high pressure will slide by the area to the south for the morning on Sunday helping keep the bulk of the day dry. Even with partly sunny skies, temperatures will not be as warm as they were on Saturday as h85 temperatures will be nearly 4-6 degrees cooler than they were just 24 hours prior. The next weak pulse of energy moves into the area Sunday evening, bringing with it additional slight chance and chance PoPs. Thermal profiles indicate what precipitation that does occur will fall as rain. Another cloudy night will help keep temperatures above freezing for most if not all locations Sunday night as lows bottom out in the mid to upper 30s. .LONG TERM...(Monday through Saturday) Issued at 242 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 Beginning 12z Monday. The period begins in northwest flow as ridging moves onto the west coast. Shortwave trough moves into the Pacific Northwest late Monday into early Tuesday and will phase with Pacific tropical system, helping to kick out the ridging as a brief period of southwest flow sets up. The residual energy associated with the Pacific tropical system will move into the area around the middle of the week and bring precipitation chances back to the area. While moisture will move north ahead of the system, signs suggest the best moisture to remain east of the local area. As such, will keep PoPs limited to chance for the time being. Given the eastern Pacific origin of this system, will see a clash of warm and cold mid-level temperatures set up overhead. Current thought is enough cold air will be in place with the surface low remaining south of the area to get snow to return to the area for Wednesday into early Thursday. Current thinking is upper-level dynamics and surface low/frontal passage will be out of phase, limiting potential for significant snow accumulations. After a couple more mild days Monday and Tuesday, the area will see highs only manage to reach the 30s to 40s for Wednesday and Thursday each. Surface high pressure moves into the area by early Friday bringing a swift return to dry conditions. The general pattern thereafter will continue to be northwesterly flow aloft with multiple systems embedded within the flow approaching the vicinity. Timing any one particular system is difficult to say the least, especially given varying evolution of individual shortwaves from the global models. Right now thinking the best chances to see precipitation return to the forecast for the late week will be Saturday as a stronger system dives southeast across the upper Midwest, dragging another cold front into the area. Temperatures should manage to return to the 40s for all by Friday with chances for another brief cooldown for the Saturday/Sunday timeframe. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Sunday evening) Issued at 516 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 Latest satellite imagery shows overcast skies across the region this evening. Surface observations are showing lower ceilings across the Nebraska Panhandle. Meanwhile, latest radar imagery is showing areas of showers across portions of northern Nebraska. Generally VFR conditions are expected through the this TAF period for both terminals. Ceilings will drop below 6000 ft for KLBF and KVTN this evening and into the overnight with occasional MVFR conditions seen. At this time it does not appear that either terminal will see MVFR conditions so will leave mention of it out. Winds will begin to weaken this evening and into the overnight. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...Jurgensen LONG TERM...Jurgensen AVIATION...Thorne
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service North Platte NE 322 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-172130- Sheridan-Eastern Cherry-Keya Paha-Boyd-Brown-Rock-Holt-Garden- Grant-Hooker-Thomas-Blaine-Loup-Garfield-Wheeler-Arthur-McPherson- Logan-Custer-Deuel-Keith-Perkins-Lincoln-Chase-Hayes-Frontier- Western Cherry- 322 PM CST Sat Nov 16 2019 /222 PM MST Sat Nov 16 2019/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of western and north central Nebraska. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed through tonight. && Get your weather, hydrological, and climate information at http://www.weather.gov/northplatte
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A grass fire started approximately 12 miles east southeast of Thedford during the early evening hours of November 16th. The fire consumed approximately 600 acres of grassland and was extinguished later that night.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, November 2019
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: 863437.