Thunderstorm Wind — Valley, Nebraska

2022-05-12 · near Arcadia, Valley, Nebraska

Event narrative

Wind gusts of 80 to 90 MPH were reported along and near this path. Peak measured wind gusts include: 89 MPH, by a mesonet station located eight miles west-southwest of Ord; 82 MPH, by a mesonet station located four miles west-southwest of Ord; 75 MPH, by a Nebraska Mesonet station located two miles northwest of Ord; 73 MPH, by a mesonet station located six miles southwest of Ord. Widespread damage was reported in and around Arcadia by a NWS Cooperative Observer, who estimated wind speeds to be 80 to 90 MPH with near-zero visibility due to blowing dirt. Numerous trees were uprooted or torn apart, and many buildings and grains bins were damaged or destroyed. Numerous pivots were overturned. Hail up to the size of ping pong balls was driven by this wind, enhancing the destructive nature of the storm. In and around Ord, law enforcement also reported widespread tree damage, along with fencing and shed damage. The NWS Cooperative Observer in Ord reported pea to dime size hail lasted for approximately 10-15 minutes. The Fort Hartsuff State Park area in far northern Valley County also reported tree damage.

Wider weather episode

Major severe weather event unfolds across south central Nebraska during the afternoon and evening of May 12th, including wind gusts of 80 to 90 MPH. The most significant severe weather event of May 2022 occurred on a Thursday in which multiple rounds of thunderstorms wreaked havoc on essentially all of south central Nebraska at some point. The most intense severe weather, by far, was the first round. This activity actually developed over portions of west/southwest Kansas during the morning hours and moved northeast. Rapid intensification took place between 1PM and 2PM CDT as thunderstorms organized into a long line, and the first Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued for areas from Phillipsburg, KS to Lexington, NE. Initial storm reports ranged from quarter to ping pong ball size hail with the southern portion of the line, to widespread damaging wind gusts with the northern portion of the line across a large portion of Dawson County. Wind damage consisted of overturned pivots, uprooted trees, broken power poles, fence and roof damage, large tree limbs downed. Wind damage was widespread over central and western Dawson County where measured wind gusts of 60-70 MPH were common. Even an 82 MPH gust, which is considered 'significant severe', was measured by a mesonet near Eddyville. Surface temperatures near 90 degrees and mixed layer CAPE values in excess of 3000 J/kg ahead of the line of thunderstorms, amidst 35kt to 50kt of southwesterly deep layer shear, allowed for continued intensification through the mid to late afternoon as the line raced northeast. Additional significant damaging wind impacts were felt across Sherman, Valley, and Greeley Counties. Valley County was another area especially hard hit. Here, several wind gusts in the 80-90 MPH range were reported, and damage was significant. Numerous trees were uprooted, pivots overturned, and outbuildings and grain bins destroyed. Another destructive aspect of this storm is that it also produced ping pong ball sized hail that was blown by the intense winds. This resulted in significant window and body damage to cars, as well as roof, siding, and window damage to homes. Additional significant wind damage was reported in and around Burwell (just barely outside this coverage area). The first round of thunderstorms exited north/northeast of the area around 3:30PM CDT, but the next round was 'hot on its heels', and entered southern Nebraska around 4PM CDT, and quickly became severe. In fact, brief, but intense, circulations were noted on radar for a time just south and southeast of Hastings. This round affected mainly areas along and east of Highway 281. Since this region was spared from the first round, and a similar thermodynamic and kinematic environment was still in place, it's no surprise that this round also intensified enough to produce 'significant severe' wind gusts, most notably in a swath from Clay County northeast to Polk County. Several more 60-70 MPH wind gusts were reported in these areas, causing more overturned pivots, downed power lines, and damage to roofs, outbuildings, and grain bins. Also, intense wind gusts moved over Interstate 80 in Hamilton County, causing multiple overturned semis. This second round exited into eastern Nebraska and out of the Hastings CWA around 7PM CDT. The third and final round began to affect areas along and east Highway 183 between 7PM and 8PM CDT. The majority of this activity remained sub-severe as the greatest instability had been used up by the two previous rounds. However, a marginally severe wind gust of 59 MPH was measured at the Hastings airport shortly before 8PM. Thereafter, weakening ensued as the line became strung out and forward propagation slowed. Thunderstorms finally exited south central Nebraska between 11PM and midnight, ending a roughly 10 hour stretch of seemingly never ending severe weather!

Meteorologically speaking, this event was driven by a particularly volatile combination of intensifying shortwave ejecting from the central Rockies into the northern Plains, very unstable airmass (MUCAPE of 3000-4000 J/kg at it's peak), and strong deep layer shear driven by 500 mb speed max of 60-70 kt. While this setup is not unheard of for mid-May, it's certainly not very common, and for three distinct waves of thunderstorms to move through in a 10 hour period (two of which contained significant severe weather phenomena) is also not very common. From a regional perspective, the Hastings CWA was the developing grounds for a significant derecho that would propagate into the Northern Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley and go on to produce hundreds of measured severe wind gusts and wind damage reports, of which over 60 were considered 'significant severe'. Over 75 hail reports and nearly three dozen tornado reports were also reported, with the majority of tornadoes occurring in SD and MN. For 2022, this will likely be remembered as one of the most severe convective events of the year, both locally, and across the greater region.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1026736. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.