A fire initiated during the late afternoon hours of March 12th approximately 8 miles west southwest of Halsey. Gusty west winds pushed the fire east with a shift to the south behind a cold front during the overnight hours.
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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 fire initiated during the late afternoon hours of March 12th approximately 8 miles west southwest of Halsey. Gusty west winds pushed the fire east with a shift to the south behind a cold front during the overnight hours. The fire burned through rangeland and mixed live and dead trees in the Nebraska National Forest. By the time the fire was contained on March 26th, a total of 35,892 acres was consumed in Thomas and Blaine Counties.
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 12, 11:07 AM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service North Platte NE 1207 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Critical fire weather conditions are expected across all of western and north central Nebraska today, due to a combination of abnormally warm temperatures, low relative humidity, and very strong westerly winds. Across western Nebraska, westerly wind gusts up to 65 mph are expected this afternoon. - This evening, a cold front brings a second round of strong winds across north central Nebraska. Northwesterly wind gusts behind the front of 55 to 60 mph are expected this evening into the overnight hours. - Near critical fire weather concerns are expected again Saturday, as warm, dry, and windy conditions continue across the area. - Light rain and snow is possible behind a cold front Saturday night into Sunday. At this time, the greatest snow accumulations are expected for areas along and north of HWY 20. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 245 AM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 Strong downslope flow today will bring strong westerly winds and warm air advection across the region. This will usher in abnormally warm high temperatures, with highs roughly 20 to 25 degrees above normal. In fact, highs today are expected to push into the 70s across most of the region, with some locations in southwest Nebraska possibly pushing into the upper 70s. These very warm temperatures will also bring very low relative humidity this afternoon, with minimum values dropping into the 13 to 23 percent range. In addition to the very warm temperatures and low humidity, the downslope flow will also bring strong westerly winds across the entire region this afternoon. The strongest winds generally remain along and west of Highway 83 this afternoon, with sustained westerly winds around 35 to 45 mph and gusts up to 65 mph. East of Highway 83, winds still remain strong, with sustained west winds of 25 to 30 mph gusting to 45 mph. For areas west of Highway 83, a High Wind Warning goes into effect this morning through the evening. Strong westerly winds will make for difficult travel on north-south oriented roads due to crosswinds. Additionally, and more importantly, the combination of very strong winds, abnormally warm temperatures, and low relative humidity will lead to critical fire weather conditions across all of western and north central Nebraska. In addition to the High Wind Warning, a Red Flag Warning is in effect for all of western and north central Nebraska this afternoon into the evening. In fact, the entire state of Nebraska is under a Red Flag Warning this afternoon, as very widespread critical fire weather conditions are expected. Any fire starts this afternoon will rapidly grow and spread, becoming difficult to contain. As afternoon transitions into the evening, a cold front tracks in from the north. With this cold front, another round of strong winds tracks into the region, this time across portions of north central Nebraska. Behind the front, strong sustained northwesterly winds of 25 to 30 mph are expected, with winds gusting 55 to 60 mph. With increased confidence in these higher winds, have issued a second High Wind Warning for areas east of Highway 83, and mostly along and north of Highway 2 for Thursday evening into early Friday morning. This will have some overlap with the ongoing Red Flag Warning in the early evening, so again, any fire starts will rapidly grow and spread. Winds are expected to finally diminish shortly before sunrise Friday morning. As for Friday, a temperature gradient sets up across the region. Cooler temperatures are expected across north central Nebraska in the wake of the cold front. Highs across north central Nebraska are expected to drop into the 40s. Across the Sandhills, highs are expected to remain in the 50s. Across southwest Nebraska, warmer temperatures remain, driven by some additional downslope flow, where highs in the 60s are expected, with a few locations potentially breaking into the lower 70s. The warmer temperatures across far southwest Nebraska will contribute to lower relative humidity values in the 20 to 25 percent range. Southerly winds are expected to remain around 10 to 15 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph at times. This may lead to some additional elevated to near critical fire weather concerns across southwest Nebraska on Friday afternoon. This threat will largely be driven on the eastern extent of stronger wind gusts, so will continue to refine the forecast in the next few forecast cycles. Friday night, a band of showers is expected to track south across South Dakota, bringing slight chance to chance PoPs across far north central Nebraska. If precipitation is realized with this system, expect that precipitation initially starts as rain/snow mix, before switching over to snow as overnight lows plummet into the 20s. However, any precipitation amounts are expected to remain very light, with a dusting of snow expected at most. This would roughly be a couple hundredths of an inch liquid, so very little in terms of wetting precipitation. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 245 AM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 Surface low pressure will deepen across eastern Colorado/Wyoming Saturday morning, before ejecting east into western Nebraska and Kansas by Saturday evening. This leads to a constricting surface pressure gradient across the area, leading to increasing southerly flow ahead of this low, and westerly flow behind a surface trough moving into the Sandhills in the afternoon. The greatest fire concerns are expected to develop behind this surface trough, as the strong downslope winds overlap warm and very dry conditions. Westerly wind gusts of 25 to 35 miles per hour can be expected Saturday afternoon, with the strongest winds across the western Sandhills. By Saturday night, a cold front will push through the area as the surface low ejects east, leading to increasing cold advection. This will promote ample mechanical mixing to lead to strong northerly winds through the overnight hours, with widespread gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour Sunday morning and into the afternoon. Strengthening mid-level FGEN will also lead to snow development across southern South Dakota and far northern Nebraska. At this time, confidence in impactful snow accumulations is highest north of the area across South Dakota, though increasing probabilities stretch further south into portions of northern Nebraska. For now, snow amounts locally look highest near and north of HWY 20, though minor adjustments in storm track will lead to drastic changes in snow amounts. This will need to be monitored closely, with a sharp gradient expected on the southern side of the axis of heaviest snowfall. Attention then turns to increasing fire concerns, as guidance has begun to hint at very anomalous upper ridging as we head towards midweek. Temperatures quickly moderate back to above average by Tuesday, with the potential for highs approaching record territory for Wednesday into late week. Ensemble guidance hints at rather impressive upper ridge, with H5 heights approaching climo maximums across much of the western and central US next week. This is further reinforced by very warm low level temperatures, with ensemble guidance suggesting H7-H85 temperatures approaching the 99th percentile climo as well. This points to impressive warmth for late March, with probabilities for even highs approaching monthly records beginning to creep upwards. Trends will need to be monitored closely, as the prolonged record warmth could spell both a return of fire concerns and could worsen ongoing drought conditions across the area. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1207 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 The main concern in the short term will be the strong winds today and tonight. The strongest winds this afternoon will be across western Nebraska into the central Sandhills, including North Platte and Valentine terminals with western winds sustained at 35 to 30 kts and gust of 45 kts or more. Winds will then switch to the northwest in the evening with sustained winds of 10 to 15 kts and gust up to 35 kts. For north central Nebraska, the strongest winds will be this evening through the overnight with northwest winds of 20 30 kts and gust up to 45 kts or more. Mid level cloud will move in Friday morning across northern Nebraska and winds will diminish to around 5 kts. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 245 AM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 Fire concerns greatly increase this afternoon, with widespread critical fire concerns expected. Temperatures in the 70s will combine with dry air and lead to humidity falling to as low as 12 to 20 percent across the entire area. Very strong winds are expected to develop as well, with sustained westerly winds of 35 to 45 mph and gusts up to 65 mph. East of Highway 83, winds still remain strong, with sustained west winds of 25 to 30 mph, gusting to 40 mph. This will overlap the low humidity and lead to critical fire conditions across all of western and north central Nebraska. This will lead to erratic fire spread and rapid fire growth. A strong cold front will also pass through the area this evening, leading to a wind shift from west to northwest. A corridor of very strong northwest winds (60+ miles per hour) is expected across northern Nebraska with its passage. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for all of western and north central Nebraska today. Elevated to near critical fire concerns persist into Friday and Saturday, primarily across western and southwest Nebraska. A brief cooldown on Sunday lessens fire concerns, before temperatures quickly warm and could challenge record highs by middle next week. This could mark a return of elevated to near critical conditions to the area yet again. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ this evening for NEZ004-005-022>025-035-036-056-057-094. Red Flag Warning until 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ this evening for NEZ204-206-208>210-219. High Wind Warning from 7 PM this evening to 3 AM CDT Friday for NEZ006>010-026>029. && SHORT TERM...Richie LONG TERM...Brown AVIATION...Gomez FIRE WEATHER...Brown
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service North Platte NE 1111 AM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-131615- 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- 1111 AM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026 /1011 AM MDT Thu Mar 12 2026/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of western and north central Nebraska. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. The combination of warm temperatures, very low humidity, and west winds gusting 40 to 65 miles per hour will lead to critical fire weather conditions across all of western and north central Nebraska. A Red Flag Warning is in effect through this evening for the entire area. A High Wind Warning is in effect for much of the Sandhills and north central Nebraska today. West winds gusting as high as 65 miles per hour is the greatest concern through this evening. A cold front then passes through the area late this evening, with a threat for northwest wind gusts as high as 60 miles per hour after sunset. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. Elevated to near critical fire weather conditions are possible both Friday and Saturday, mainly over southwestern Nebraska and the western Sandhills. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
323 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0319 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 NNE Valentine 42.89N 100.54W
03/12/2026 E60 MPH Cherry NE Mesonet
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
340 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0317 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 WNW Oshkosh 41.45N 102.45W
03/12/2026 E58 MPH Garden NE Mesonet
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
342 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0338 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst Rushville 42.71N 102.46W
03/12/2026 E60 MPH Sheridan NE Mesonet
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
343 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0303 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 NNE Lakeside 42.13N 102.43W
03/12/2026 E63 MPH Sheridan NE Mesonet
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
347 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0340 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 NNE Madrid 40.93N 101.49W
03/12/2026 M63 MPH Perkins NE Mesonet
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service North Platte NE
348 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0330 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 14 SSE Hay Springs 42.49N 102.63W
03/12/2026 M55 MPH Sheridan NE Public
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Fire initiated during the mid afternoon hours approximately 8 miles west-southwest of Halsey. Aided by strong west, then north winds, the fire moved east then south across a large portion of the Nebraska National Forest. By the time the fire was contained, 27,292 acres were consumed.
Fire initiated during the mid afternoon hours approximately 8 miles west-southwest of Halsey. Aided by strong west, then north winds, the fire moved east then south across a large portion of the Nebraska National Forest burning into southwestern Blaine County. A total of 8,600 acres were consumed in the fire.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, March 2026
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: 1322709, 1323600.