Severe (D2) to extreme (D3) drought conditions continued across portions of eastern Nebraska through the month of May.
Every event with a place to put it; 14 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 OAX wrote it up.
Severe (D2) to extreme (D3) drought conditions continued across portions of eastern Nebraska through the month of May.
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 Apr 30, 11:37 PM CST, 23 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE
1237 AM CDT Fri May 1 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Nightly frost chances tonight through Friday night. Highest
potential for widespread frost and a freeze in some locations
will be Friday night.
- Occasional spotty shower and storm chances (under 20%) at
times through this weekend. Highest potential will be Friday
afternoon, and Sunday evening.
- Highs in the mid 50s to lower 60s through Friday, then warming
into the 60s and 70s Saturday into next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 1145 PM CDT Thu Apr 30 2026
Tonight through Saturday Morning:
Water vapor imagery this evening continues to feature zonal activity
along the southern tier of the CONUS, while northwesterly flow
brings in a band of ascent into the local area. That band of ascent
is working with weak warm air advection to develop a swath of
shallow clouds and a few sprinkles with them that extends form
northeast Nebraska into southern Minnesota. Very little if anything
will reach the ground, with the main concern of the overnight hours
instead being cooling temperatures and frost formation. Latest
observations show surface pressure tendencies on the increase, with
wind speeds also becoming lax to help increase radiational cooling
potential. Overnight lows are set to fall into the low-to-mid 30s,
making most of the area ready for frost formation in low-lying
areas.
By daybreak, we'll start to begin coupling back and building the
boundary layer vertically to increase winds to similar speeds
experienced today. Gusts to 20 mph during the afternoon hours will
be enough to make the anticipated highs in the upper 50s to 60s feel
brisk. Additional dry air funneling into the area will keep humidity
values headed for the 20s across the bulk of the area, with the
spring green-up limiting fire danger with the forecasted wind
speeds. Heading into the overnight hours, another calm night arrives
and our best chances at frost and even freeze potential are set to
occur. Overnight temperatures will fall as low as 30 degrees at
their low point, which could trend even into the upper 20s if
temperatures over-perform compared to guidance the previous
morning. The best chances for any freeze warnings would be
northwest of a line from Columbus to Onawa, with the entire area
under the gun for frost.
Saturday and Beyond:
Saturday headed into next week will see the mid/upper pattern begin
building heights over the central and western CONUS as the main
upper trough scoots eastward. Highs will respond in kind, pushing
into the 60s/70s Saturday and well into the 70s Sunday/Monday. Rain
chances during this period are pretty slim, with anything that
models do put out ending up near a trace and a far cry from anything
that would help with the drought in place. The winds of change
arrive during the latter half of Monday heading into Tuesday, where
upper 50s/60s return and a cutoff low tries to phase with a digging
lobe of the persistent low to the northeast, bringing rain chances
for the general area. Large model spread and run-to-run differences
are going to keep any promises for meaningful rainfall limited. At
the very least, the NE/KS/IA/MO area will see some prolonged
rainfall headed towards mid-week, but details as to exactly where it
exceeds wetting amounts will remain murky for now.
&&
.AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/...
Issued at 1232 AM CDT Fri May 1 2026
VFR conditions will persist over the next 24 hours with light
and variable winds overnight (generally out of west). Mostly
clear skies are expected with a band of clouds working north to
south across the area at FL080.
Skies will be primarily clear on Friday, too, but a few cumulus
around FL060 are expected during the morning hours. Winds will
become breezy Friday morning with gusts near 20 knots out of the
north.
&&
.OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...Frost Advisory until 9 AM CDT this morning for NEZ011-012-
015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093.
IA...Frost Advisory until 9 AM CDT this morning for IAZ043-055-056-
069-079-080-090-091.
&&
DISCUSSION...Petersen
AVIATION...NicolaisenHazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 200 PM CDT Thu Apr 30 2026 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-011200- 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- 200 PM CDT Thu Apr 30 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for southwest Iowa, west central Iowa, east central Nebraska, northeast Nebraska and southeast Nebraska. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. Frost is likely in portions of the area tonight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. Frost or a potential freeze will be possible in some areas overnight Friday night into Saturday morning. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
14 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across Antelope County throughout the month of May. The cooperative observers at Elgin and Oakdale recorded 4.09 and 3.20 inches of precipitation, respectively. These values were 0.12 inches above and 0.93 inches below average, respectively.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across Boone County throughout the month of May. The cooperative observers at Albion and Loretto 7W recorded 3.76 and 5.01 inches of precipitation, respectively. These values were 0.46 inches below and 0.66 inches above average, respectively.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Butler County through the month of May, though improvements in areal coverage were observed. The coverage of severe drought shrank from around 94 percent at the beginning of the month down to around 23 percent by the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Surprise recorded 3.89 inches of precipitation, 0.98 inches below average. The CoCoRaHS observer at Bellwood 5.8 W recorded 7.12 inches of precipitation, 2.72 inches above average.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across Cedar County through the month of May, with an expansion in areal coverage observed. The coverage of extreme drought expanded from around 8 percent at the beginning of the month up to around 53 percent by the end of the month. The CoCoRaHS observer at St. Helena 4.1 SW recorded 1.20 inches of precipitation, 2.85 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions were present across portions of Colfax County at the beginning of the month, but conditions improved steadily throughout May. Severe drought coverage was reduced to zero by the end of the month, while moderate (D1) drought expanded to cover 100 percent of the area. The cooperative observer at Howells recorded 5.17 inches of precipitation, 0.92 inches above average.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across Knox County through the month of May, with an expansion in areal coverage observed. The coverage of extreme drought expanded from around 94 percent at the beginning of the month up to 97 percent by the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Orchard 9NNE recorded 1.81 inches of precipitation, 2.11 inches below average. The CoCoRaHS observer at Crofton 0.7 NNW recorded 1.56 inches of precipitation, 2.42 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Lancaster County throughout the month of May. The Lincoln Airport recorded 4.65 inches of precipitation, 0.26 inches below average. The cooperative observer at Crete 4ESE recorded 4.57 inches of precipitation, 1.08 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Madison County throughout the month of May. The Norfolk Airport recorded 3.85 inches of precipitation, 0.15 inches below average.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions persisted across Pierce County throughout the month of May. The cooperative observer at Pierce recorded 3.12 inches of precipitation, 0.87 inches below average. The CoCoRaHS observer at Pierce 2.6 NNE recorded 2.54 inches of precipitation, 1.53 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions were present across portions of Platte County at the beginning of the month, but conditions improved steadily throughout May. Severe drought coverage was reduced to zero by the end of the month, leaving the entire county in moderate (D1) drought. The cooperative observer at Columbus 3 NE recorded 4.77 inches of precipitation, 0.20 inches above average. The CoCoRaHS observer at Humphrey 5.7 SSW recorded 4.73 inches of precipitation, 0.39 inches above average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Saline County through the month of May, though improvements in areal coverage were observed. The coverage of severe drought shrank from 24 percent at the beginning of the month down to around 8 percent by the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Friend 3E recorded 4.17 inches of precipitation, 0.73 inches below average. The CoCoRaHS observer at Tobias 4.7 SSW recorded 4.81 inches of precipitation, 0.95 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions were present across portions of Saunders County at the beginning of the month, but conditions improved steadily throughout May. Severe drought coverage was reduced to zero by the end of the month, while the coverage of moderate (D1) drought shrank from around 57 percent at the beginning of the month down to around 35 percent. The cooperative observer at Mead 6S recorded 5.71 inches of precipitation, 0.99 inches above average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Seward County through the month of May, with an expansion in areal coverage observed. The coverage of severe drought expanded from around 95 percent at the beginning of the month up to around 99 percent by the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Seward recorded 2.96 inches of precipitation, 1.91 inches below average. The CoCoRaHS observers at Seward 4.7 NE and Utica 0.1 SSE recorded 3.87 and 3.57 inches of precipitation, respectively. These values were 0.67 and 1.37 inches below average.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across Wayne County throughout the month of May. The CoCoRaHS observer at Carroll 6.35 WSW recorded 3.64 inches of precipitation.
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, May 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: 1340346, 1340347, 1340348, 1340349, 1340350, 1340351, 1340352, 1340353, 1340354, 1340355, 1340356, 1340357, 1340358, 1340359.