A strong cold front moved through western and north central Nebraska during the afternoon and evening hours on March 29th. Strong northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph with gusts as high as 68 mph were recorded.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 LBF wrote it up.
A strong cold front moved through western and north central Nebraska during the afternoon and evening hours on March 29th. Strong northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph with gusts as high as 68 mph were recorded. Some blowing dust was also observed which reduced visibility briefly.
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 Mar 29, 11:20 AM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service North Platte NE 1220 PM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 .SHORT TERM...(Today through Tuesday) Issued at 346 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 There are several weather concerns in the short term. The first concern is the strong winds across the area. 250 mb jet streak around 110-120 kts will eject across the High Plains across southwest SD into portions of the northern Nebraska Panhandle. In association with the jet streak, strong winds will continue to translate down with 500 mb winds around 75-80 kts and 700mb winds around 50-65 kts. Strong CAA should help to aid in good mixing levels and help to mix the strong winds aloft down to the sfc. Did trend forecast towards bufkit soundings of the RAP and NAM as both seemed to have a good handle on the mixing during the day. Confidence in winds is medium, however one thing to note is that the strongest winds, gust around 50 to 60 mph at the sfc will be brief. There will generally be a brief period where we could expect to see the highest wind gust and that will focus around the strong cold front moving across the state, mainly just ahead, along and just behind the fast moving front. A High Wind Warning has been issued as confidence increased that wind gust of 60 mph or even greater will move through the area, albeit brief nonetheless impactful, due to their sudden surge of gusty winds. Recent rainfall over the past week should keep any blowing dust concerns to a minimum across the Sandhills into north central Nebraska. Areas across southwest Nebraska could see some brief blowing dust concerns as the highest winds move through the area. As far as timing of the cold front, the cold front will move into the northwest Sandhills by early afternoon and continue to push southeast rather quickly, exiting our CWA by early evening. This brings up the next weather concern, which would be high temperatures for today. Did cool temperatures slightly across the northwest Sandhills as cold air will move in behind the front and with the front pushing through this area before peak heating did not see temperatures reaching past 70 degrees. However there is a good chance for temperatures across southwest Nebraska into portion of central Nebraska to reach the upper 70s to low 80s as the front will not pass through until after peak heating, so did bump temperatures to slightly warmer guidance in this area. Fire weather will also be a concern this afternoon. The combination of gusty winds, warm temperatures and minimum RH will lead to critical fire conditions, thus a Red Flag Warning has been issued for the entire CWA until 9pm CDT. For more information concerning fire weather please see the fire weather section below. As far as precipitation, confidence is low in much if any precipitation occurring with the frontal passage. The air mass behind the front is very dry so there will be little if any moisture to work with. The most likely scenario would be areas of sprinkles as the front passes, but confidence was too low to include sprinkles into the forecast at this time, one main reason was the dry air at the sfc and well aloft may result in seeing mainly virga. .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Sunday) Issued at 346 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 The long term forecast will remain mostly dry. An upper level ridge begins to build across the western CONUS Wednesday and will continue to build eastward, centering over the Central Plains by Thursday night and continue through Sunday. Temperatures will warm up starting Thursday with highs reaching the 80s by Saturday. No precipitation is expected in the long term as the ridge should keep us warm and dry through the period. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Tuesday afternoon) Issued at 1220 PM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 VFR will continue through the forecast period for western and north central Nebraska, although strong winds are the primary aviation weather concern. Southwest winds will continue to be breezy with gusts 30+ kts for northern terminals (KVTN) and 15+ kts southwest (KLBF) through mid afternoon. A strong cold front will then drop south across the region late afternoon to early evening, resulting in a wind shift to northwest and rapid increase in speed with gusts 40+ kts possible. Winds taper somewhat overnight, but increase again by mid-morning Tuesday. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 346 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 A surge of warm dry air will move into the forecast area early this afternoon. Dew points will drop widespread into the low to mid 20s this afternoon, with RH values becoming very low, ranging from around 10 to 15 percent across all of the fire weather zones. Temperatures will be well above normal helping to aid in the dry conditions. As the cold front approaches the area winds will become extremely gusty ahead of the front and just behind the front. This will create a sudden surge of high winds that could become impactful for any ongoing fires. Winds are expected remain strong most of the afternoon with sustained winds around 25 to 35 mph. One important thing to note is that as the front passes winds will quickly shift from the west southwest to the northwest. && .CLIMATE... Issued at 346 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 Highs today will be well above normal as highs reach the 70s to low 80s. This is around 15 near 30 degrees above normal temperatures this time of year. As far as records go, as the current forecast stands no record highs should be reached today, as most record high temperatures for our climate sites are in the mid 80s. Broken Bow will be the closest to possibly reaching their record as they have a forecast high of 81 and their record high temperature for today is 85 degrees. As the ridge builds in later this week temperatures will once again reach above normal. Highs on Friday and Saturday will be around 20 degrees above normal, while Sunday will be the warmest day with temperatures reaching 25 to 30 degrees above normal. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 1 AM CDT /midnight MDT/ Tuesday for NEZ006-008-009-022>027-035>038-056>059-069>071. Red Flag Warning until 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ this evening for NEZ204-206-208>210-219. High Wind Warning until 1 AM CDT /midnight MDT/ Tuesday for NEZ004-005-094. && SHORT TERM...Gomez LONG TERM...Gomez AVIATION...Snively FIRE WEATHER...Gomez CLIMATE...Gomez
Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service North Platte NE 954 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-301500- 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- 954 AM CDT Mon Mar 29 2021 /854 AM MDT Mon Mar 29 2021/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of western and north central Nebraska. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. A High Wind Warning is in effect this afternoon and this evening for all of western Nebraska and parts of north central Nebraska along and west of highway 183. The hazard is wind gusts from the north and northwest at speeds near 60 mph. Fire weather conditions will be critical this afternoon and early this evening across all of western and north central Nebraska. The hazards are relative humidity below 15 percent and winds gusting to 30 mph or higher. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. Dry air and progressively warmer temperatures Tuesday through Sunday will promote elevated to near critical fire weather conditions across much of western and north central Nebraska. .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.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Valentine ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 68 mph at 145 pm CST. Across eastern Cherry County, strong west wind of 30 to 45 mph with gusts near 70 mph turned northwest during the passage of a strong cold front.
The RAWS site at Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge recorded a peak wind gust of 60 mph at 358 pm MST. Across Garden County, strong west wind of 30 to 45 mph with gusts near 60 mph turned northwest during the passage of a strong cold front.
The nearby RAWS site at Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge recorded a peak wind gust of 60 mph at 358 pm MST. Across Arthur County, strong west wind of 30 to 45 mph with gusts near 60 mph turned northwest during the passage of a strong cold front.
The Imperial ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph at 549 MST. Sustained wind of 40 mph also occurred between 515 pm and 715 pm MST. Across Chase County, strong north northwest winds of 40 mph with gusts up to near 65 mph occurred behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The nearby Imperial ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph at 549 pm MST. Sustained wind of 40 mph also occurred between 515 pm and 715 pm MST. Across Perkins County, strong north northwest winds of 40 mph with gusts to near 65 mph occurred from the late afternoon into the evening hours behind the passage of a strong cold front.
A mesonet site 4 miles north of North Platte recorded sustain winds of 40 mph between 600 pm and 700 pm CST. The North Platte ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 55 mph at 641 pm CST. Across Lincoln County, strong north northwest winds of 40 mph with gusts to near 55 mph occurred during the early evening hours behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The nearby McCook ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 60 mph at 753 pm CST. Across Frontier County, strong north winds of 40 mph with gusts to near 60 mph occurred during the early evening hours behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The nearby Imperial ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph at 649 pm CST. Sustained wind of 40 mph also occurred between 615 pm and 815 pm MST. Across Hayes County, strong north northwest winds of 40 mph with gusts to near 65 mph occurred behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The Broken Bow ASOS recorded a peak wind gust of 58 mph at 618 pm CST. Across Custer County, strong north winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph or higher at times occurred. These strong winds occurred during the early evening hours behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The Ogallala AWOS recorded sustained winds of 40 mph between 530 pm and 630 pm MST. Across Keith County, strong north northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph with gusts up to 55 mph occurred behind the passage of a strong cold front.
The nearby Ogallala AWOS recorded sustained winds of 40 mph between 530 pm and 630 pm MST. Across Deuel County, strong north northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph with gusts up to 55 mph occurred behind the passage of a strong cold front.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, March 2021
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: 941096, 941097, 941098, 941109, 941111, 941113, 941114, 941115, 941985, 941106, 941107.