Extensive line of thunderstorms brought widespread severe wind to much of south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas on this date. This event will likely go down as the most widespread severe weather event of the spring and summer of 2020 for the Hastings County Warning Area (CWA).
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.
Extensive line of thunderstorms brought widespread severe wind to much of south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas on this date. This event will likely go down as the most widespread severe weather event of the spring and summer of 2020 for the Hastings County Warning Area (CWA). Thunderstorms developed along a cold front across north central Nebraska, and also within a zone of low level upslope flow over western Nebraska and northeast Colorado, during the early evening hours of July 8th. Both areas of development initially contained both line segments and embedded supercells, posing risks for all severe hazards, but quickly organized into two separate lines of convection, or quasi linear convective systems (QLCSs). By 9pm CDT, one line extended roughly west to east from Thedford, NE to O'Neill, NE and was moving southeast, while the other line extended roughly north to south from near Thedford, NE to just west of McCook, NE and was moving mainly east. Shortly thereafter, both lines began to merge together into one coherent line. Thunderstorms began to enter far northern and western portions of the CWA around 10pm CDT. By this time, thunderstorms already had a history of producing 60 to 75 mph wind gusts and a few instances of large hail just northwest and west of the CWA. The line of thunderstorms strengthened and organized further as they shifted southeast into the CWA between 10-11pm CDT. In fact, an impressive bow echo developed over Gosper and Furnas Counties during this time and raced eastward, affecting areas primarily between Interstate 80 in south central Nebraska and Highway 36 in north central Kansas. Severe wind gusts remained the primary threat. The QLCS had taken on an S shape by 11pm CDT, slanting southwest to northeast. The greatest concentration of severe wind reports occurred over central and eastern portions of the CWA, roughly from Grand Island and Hastings eastward to York and Hebron, between 11pm CDT on July 8th and 1am CDT on July 9th as forward speed increased dramatically. Several wind gusts were measured between 70-75mph in this area, including a peak wind gust of 75mph in Thayer County. Not surprisingly, widespread wind damage was reported, as well, especially to trees, power lines, and crops. Downed tree limbs (medium to large size) and snapped small trees were fairly common. Power outages were also common across many small towns during the overnight and into the early morning hours, though an exact estimation of peak power outages is unknown. A few buildings also sustained damage, such as blown in doors and roof damage from fallen trees and lost shingles. Finally, a brief EF-0 tornado was determined to have occurred in Merrick County, with peak winds estimated to be around 85mph. Damage was limited. The leading edge of the QLCS, and associated peak wind threat, shifted east and southeast of the CWA by 1AM CDT, though lingering stratiform rain as well as a northwest to southeast band of thunderstorms near the state line continued for a few more hours. The only severe hail reported with this event was along the southwest flank of the QLCS over Furnas County, where thunderstorms continued to regenerate. A few instances of quarter to golf ball size hail was reported.
Meteorologically speaking, this severe wind event was driven largely by a cold front interacting with a strongly unstable airmass due to steep mid level lapse rates, strong heating, and moist boundary layer. Initially cellular activity quickly grew upscale into line segments owing to the linear forcing along the cold front and generally outflow dominated activity, with peak DCAPE values in excess of 1500 J/kg. The primary shortwave trough responsible for the cold front remained well north of the area, near the Montana/Canadian border, but several weak perturbations moving west to east over the cold front likely aided in thunderstorm development as well. A distinct mesoscale convective vortex, modest deep layer shear of 30-35 knots, and an intensifying southerly low level jet up to 45 knots sustained the severe convection well past sunset. Finally, it's worth noting that an impressive surface pressure rise/fall couplet of at least 3mb/2hr accompanied the QLCS across the CWA between 05Z and 07Z.
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 8, 5:59 PM CST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Hastings NE 659 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Thursday night) Issued at 350 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 There are quite a few things to discuss for the short term, the primary one being the storms expected tonight. The cold front stationed off to the northwest will continue to move southeastward across the area. The good news? the potential for much of the area to receive some needed rain, along with some cooler temps by tomorrow. The bad news? several of these storms could be severe with the primary threats being wind and hail. Convection is expected to begin developing with convergence along the sfc frontal boundary late this afternoon/early this evening. Models are consistent in depicting the development of more organized/linear convection that begins as separate lines, one to the north and one to the west, that then merge into one MCS. The western boundary looks to be the more influential of the two and will result in a more east to west push than was originally anticipated. Timing is a little more difficult to nail down at the moment. Successive model runs have been showing a later and later onset, but the general brunt of the activity is still expected to be between 7pm and 2am. Regarding the overall severe threat, majority of the area is in an SPC Enhanced Risk for severe weather. The main threats are damaging wind and large hail. Severe risk will be the greatest earlier on in the afternoon and evening. With 2k-3k J of SBCAPE and 30-35 kts of 0- 6 km shear, a few discrete cells and maybe a supercell or two are possible initially, and will likely pose the greatest threat for large hail. Then with the loss of daytime heating and a developing cold pool, storm mode will become almost exclusively linear...taking on more of a QLCS form. This will lead to the greater wind threat, with the potential for storm winds to around 70 mph. Damaging winds will pose the greatest risk and overall are the more dominating and widespread threat. Once the front has moved through Thursday should be mostly dry and around 10 degrees cooler and in the mid 80s. There are a few weak signals in a couple models suggesting some re-development may happen Thursday evening, but this is more of an outlier and doesn't look to be supported by much. Any major changes to PoPs for Thurs are going to largely depend on how tonight plays out. .LONG TERM...(Friday through Wednesday) Issued at 350 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 Since most of the focus is in the short term, this is a more broad overview of the long term. A potent ridge is building over the desert SW and will be the driving force behind weather over the next several days. The main thing will be the continued heat. Temperatures are expected to rebound back into the 90s by the end of the weekend. The other effect of the ridge will be the shoddy PoPs that are peppered throughout the week. With the the ridge being located over the desert SW, any short waves that come over the ridge will likely pass right through the Central Plains along with accompanying MCS activity. This looks to be a possibility on Saturday morning, as a short wave rounds over the top of the ridge and then dives south through central NE. The remainder of the long term looks mostly dry, though this could easily change with any small perturbations or short waves that may develop. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS through 00Z Friday) Issued at 656 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 Main problem will be timing of potential thunderstorms tonight. Most models have been too quick with progression of thunderstorm activity this evening. Some models also indicate at least a few hours of low-level wind shear (LLWS) overnight, but since thunderstorms may be ongoing, I opted to keep this out of the forecast for now. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. KS...NONE. && SHORT TERM...Shawkey LONG TERM...Shawkey AVIATION...Heinlein
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Hastings NE 431 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 091200- 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- 431 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Severe thunderstorms are favorable across the outlook area this evening and tonight, mainly between the hours of 7 PM and 2 AM. The primary hazards from the storms will be damaging winds of 70 mph and large hail to around the size of golf balls. A weak, isolated tornado cannot be ruled out. In addition, heavy rainfall may accompany the storms and could cause localized flooding. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. Periodic chances for thunderstorms are in the forecast for most of the period. Predictability is low regarding severe weather chances. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will be needed this evening especially between the hours of 7 PM and 2 AM. && More information may be obtained at the following web page: https://www.weather.gov/hastings Heinlein
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:43 UTC.
57 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust of 69 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 2 miles north-northeast of Cambridge.
A wind gust of 58 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile north of Oxford.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
A wind gust of 64 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles east of Loomis.
A wind gust of 62 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 2 miles north-northwest of Alma.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in minor tree damage in Miller.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 65 MPH.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in some downed tree branches in Ashton.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in small tree limbs being downed in Loup City.
Minor tree damage was reported on the east side of Kearney.
A wind gust of 64 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 2 miles north-northeast of Norman.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
Region 44 Emergency Management assisted with this survey. A brief tornado touched down north of Silver Creek, with a path length of approximately 4 miles and maximum wind gusts estimated to be 85 MPH. Damage was primarily confined to trees, with downed large branches and some uprooted trees. Irrigation pivots along and near the path were overturned. Two farmsteads were affected, one sustained minor damage to a small outbuilding and the other sustained tree damage.
A wind gust of 62 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile west-southwest of Blue Hill.
There were multiple reports of tree damage and power outages across Grand Island.
A wind gust of 64 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles west-northwest of Alda.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH at the NWS Hastings office.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH.
A wind gust of 65 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile west of Trumbull.
Wind gusts estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH resulted in tree damage across Trumbull, with a few limbs ending up on homes. Power lines were also downed. Doors to the highway department's building were damaged, trapping equipment inside.
Peak wind gusts of 72 MPH and 66 MPH were measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles east of Pauline.
A wind gust of 70 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile east-southeast of Doniphan.
Wind gusts were estimated be between 60 and 70 MPH.
Tree limbs were downed in Hastings, blocking some roads.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
Wind gusts near 60 MPH resulted in a downed transmission line. This caused power outages in the area, and Road 2600 between Roads J and L was closed due to the line being over the road.
A wind gust of 73 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles south-southwest of Aurora.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in area power outages.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in power outages in Deweese.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH downed tree limbs up to 6 to 8 inches in diameter.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 65 MPH. Tree damage was reported in Clay Center, including tree limbs landing on a few homes.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH resulted in a damaged grain bin.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in downed tree limbs across town and a small tree being blown over on the south side of town.
Tree limbs were downed in Edgar, the largest was 1 foot in diameter.
Wind gusts estimated to be between 65 and 70 MPH caused damage to an irrigation pivot.
A wind gust of 66 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station in Harvard. Power outages were reported in town.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH by a Cooperative Observer and a trained spotter. Tree damage was reported, including small trees 8 to 10 inches in diameter being snapped.
A wind gust of 60 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 3 miles northeast of Shelby.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in tree damage in Sutton.
Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
A wind gust of 59 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile northeast of Oak.
A wind gust of 59 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles south-southeast of Bradshaw.
A wind gust of 61 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 4 miles north-northeast of Ong.
A wind gust of 64 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located in Waco.
A wind gust of 66 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles east-northeast of Edgar.
A wind gust of 66 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 2 miles west of Shickley. Emergency management reported roof and door damage to an outbuilding in Shickley.
A wind gust of 63 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile south-southeast of Davenport.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in tree damage in Hebron, with limbs up to 4 to 6 inches in diameter being downed.
A wind gust of 65 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located in Waco. A portable communications tower located 2 miles north of Waco was damaged.
A wind gust of 75 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located in Carleton.
A wind gust of 69 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles east-southeast of Carleton.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH downed small tree branches in Deshler.
A wind gust of 59 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles south of Ohiowa.
A wind gust of 60 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 6 miles south-southeast of Davenport.
Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH caused power outages in Gilead due to a downed power line.
Quarter to golf ball size hail was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Nebraska, 2020Warnings in Nebraska, July 2020
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: 902684, 902685, 902686, 902687, 902688, 902689, 902690, 902691, 902697, 902695, 902700, 902701, 902702, 907675, 902703, 902706, 902707, 902709, 902708, 902710, 902711, 902714, 902712, 907602, 907604, 907605, 907606, 907608, 907609, 907610, 907611, 907612, 907613, 907614, 907615, 907618, 907619, 907623, 907625, 907626, and more.