From June 2nd to June 4th, low-amplitude shortwave troughs traversed the north-central CONUS, embedded in northwesterly flow aloft. At the surface, several weak lows and frontal boundaries meandered across the Plains bringing daily rounds of thunderstorms to the area.
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 OAX wrote it up.
From June 2nd to June 4th, low-amplitude shortwave troughs traversed the north-central CONUS, embedded in northwesterly flow aloft. At the surface, several weak lows and frontal boundaries meandered across the Plains bringing daily rounds of thunderstorms to the area. Thunderstorms the morning of the 2nd brought heavy rain to portions of northeast and east-central Nebraska. The highest rainfall totals are west and south of Norfolk where 2 to 3 inches of rain fell. This resulted in rural flooding across portions of Platte County. That night, a decaying MCS brought gusty winds to much of eastern Nebraska, with one severe wind gust measured in northern Lancaster County. On the 4th, a stronger cold front pushed south across the northern Plains, sparking convection in northern Kansas by the evening hours. These storms moved northeast and clipped southeast Nebraska, producing a 69 mph wind gust in Nemaha county.
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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 2, 1:14 AM CST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 214 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Potential multiple rounds of strong to severe storms this morning through tonight. Round 1: through 11 AM. Round 2: noon through 7 PM. Round 3: 9 PM through 3 AM. - The highest chances for severe weather will be with a line of storms that moves through after 9 PM this evening. Damaging winds and localized flooding will be the primary threats. - Storm chances continues Monday and Tuesday, with the highest potential for additional severe weather being Tuesday. - Mostly dry Wednesday into the weekend with highs in the mid 70s through mid 80s. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 214 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 Kind of a messy, somewhat low confidence severe weather forecast for today in our area, with potential for at least 2, and possibly 3 rounds of strong to severe storms from this morning through tonight. The general setup is that we'll remain under zonal flow through the day with a couple bits of shortwave energy sliding through while moisture transport strengthens and points into the area through the afternoon. This will then be followed by a stronger shortwave trough and surface boundary sliding into the area this evening and bringing a line of strong to severe storms through most of, if not the entire area. Round 1 - This Morning: Latest CAM guidance has been persistent in quickly killing off the ongoing storms pushing into eastern NE, likely owing to decreasing instability farther east. However, it seems as though the instability is making eastward progress along with the storms with low level moisture transport becoming more southwesterly and pointing into the area, so thinking they'll continue through the morning. While deep layer shear isn't particularly strong, there should be enough for at least some degree of storm organization, yielding a low end hail and gusty wind threat, with an outside shot at quarter sized hail and/or damaging winds (5% chance or less). These storms should exit to our east by 11 AM or so and should yield our lowest potential for severe weather today. Round 2 - This Afternoon: By around noon or so, we should start to see another slug of moisture transport start to point into the area while some weak shortwave energy slides through. Instability will quickly increase into the afternoon (HREF mean of 2000-2500 J/kg of SBCAPE) with strong southerly flow ushering in mid 60s dewpoints across most of the area behind a northward advancing warm front, though model soundings do reveal a cap that will need to be overcome for any storm development to take place. Still the aforementioned moisture transport and shortwave energy do look to be just enough to get some development in vicinity of the warm front, per latest CAMs. The HRRR has trended this to areas near and north of the NE/SD border, though will have to keep an eye out for any remnant outflow boundaries from morning convection, as this could provide a focus farther south. Should the cap erode completely and we see surface based convection, a few supercellular structures capable of large hail, damaging winds, and perhaps even a tornado would be possible with hodographs showing plenty of low level curvature near the warm front (or any boundary) and 0-6 km shear of 30-40 kts. However, if storms remain elevated, would probably see mainly a large hail threat. In addition, there does look to be potential for training storms along the front which would suggest a heavy rain/localized flooding threat, especially in areas that received recent heavy rainfall. Furthermore, precipitable water values near 1.5 inches suggest the storms could be efficient rain producers. Round 3 - This Evening/Tonight: The highest potential for severe weather will arrive with the surface boundary and associated line of storms this evening, with latest CAM guidance suggesting it will be on our doorstep by around 10 PM. Expect mainly a damaging wind and flooding threat with this line of storms, but lots of questions remain on how far east the wind threat will extend. Coverage/placement of afternoon storms will play a large role in instability available to these storms as they move through. In addition, 0-3 km shear could be on either side of 30 kts, so pending exact orientation of the line relative to the shear vectors, it could become outflow dominant and weaken in some areas. Can't completely rule out quick spin-up tornadoes with the line especially in vicinity of any lingering outflow boundaries, but at this time, that potential seems to be rather limited with increasing SBCIN ahead of the line owing to the late arrival time. Regarding the flooding threat, CAMs are somewhat split on orientation of the line, with some suggesting an eastward moving line oriented pretty north-south, meaning it moves through rather quickly. Others would suggest part of the line becomes more east-west oriented and leads to some degree of training. If the latter solution pans looks to be more likely, may eventually need a flood watch, especially if it looks like the training could take place over areas that recently received heavy rain. Either way, signs point to these storms exiting to our east by 4-5 AM, though again, they could weaken as they push east, so the greatest severe weather threat could come to an end prior to that. Monday and Tuesday: The active pattern will continue through Tuesday with additional shortwaves sliding through and persistent moisture transport pointing into or near the area. The highest severe weather threat looks to come on Tuesday with a similar setup to that of today, with daytime precipitation ahead of an incoming stronger shortwave and surface boundary. So once again, lots of details to work out there, including exact timing. That said, don't want to completely discount Monday's severe weather threat, as guidance suggests we'll have pretty good instability in at least southeast NE/southwest IA, though deep layer shear looks rather weak, so storm organization would be rather limited. Wednesday through Saturday: Most of this period is looking dry with surface high pressure and northwesterly flow aloft setting up. That said, guidance does suggest some occasional weak bits of shortwave energy sliding through and giving us at least some light rain chances at times. However, confidence in timing of any of these is rather low. Temperature-wise, despite the northwest flow, we should stay pretty seasonable with highs in the mid 70s to mid 80s. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z MONDAY/... Issued at 1133 PM CDT Sat Jun 1 2024 VFR conditions are anticipated through the forecast period with a chance of thunderstorms through much of the 24 hour period. Scattered thunderstorm activity in central Nebraska may affect any of the 3 TAF sites, but confidence was only high enough to include at OFK from 09Z to 10Z Sunday. More storms are possible in the afternoon hours, but again confidence in timing and location have lead me to leave them off this TAF issuance. All three sites could be affected. Best chances and highest confidence of storm coverage comes with the line of storms forecast to work west to east late on Sunday night from about 03Z to 06Z Monday. Wind gusts over 50 knots are possible. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. IA...None. && DISCUSSION...CA AVIATION...Nicolaisen
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 347 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-031200- Monona-Harrison-Shelby-Pottawattamie-Mills-Montgomery-Fremont- Page-Knox-Cedar-Thurston-Antelope-Pierce-Wayne-Boone-Madison- Stanton-Cuming-Burt-Platte-Colfax-Dodge-Washington-Butler- Saunders-Douglas-Sarpy-Seward-Lancaster-Cass-Otoe-Saline- Jefferson-Gage-Johnson-Nemaha-Pawnee-Richardson- 347 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southwest Iowa...west central Iowa...east central Nebraska...northeast Nebraska and southeast Nebraska. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight A few strong thunderstorms may produce hail, gusty winds, and locally heavy rainfall in portions of eastern Nebraska through around 11 AM this morning. Additional strong to severe storms are possible after noon, with the highest chances in northeast Nebraska and west-central Iowa (40 to 60 percent chance of storms). Large hail, damaging winds, and localized flooding will be the primary threats, but a tornado cannot be ruled out. Finally, a line of strong to severe storms is expected to move across the area tonight from around 9 PM through 3 AM (70 to 90 percent chance). Damaging winds and localized flooding will be the primary threats, but brief tornadoes cannot be ruled out. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday Additional storms are expected Monday and Tuesday, with Tuesday having the highest potential for severe weather. The combination of recent heavy rainfall and repeated rounds of thunderstorms through Tuesday will lead to a flooding threat. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Storm spotter activation may be needed at times through tonight.
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:33 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter reported flood waters over county roads from overnight thunderstorms.
The office received a public report of water still over the southbound lane of Highway 81 in northeastern Platte County. This is a continuation of flash flooding that occurred from overnight thunderstorms the night prior.
A 60 miles per hour wind gust was measured by a personal weather station.
A 69 miles per hour wind gust was measured by a personal weather station.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, June 2024
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: 1198256, 1198258, 1198262, 1198277.