Thunderstorm Wind — Gosper, Nebraska

2023-08-03 · near Smithfield, Gosper, Nebraska

Event narrative

Report of a flipped irrigation pivot relayed from social media via broadcast media.

Wider weather episode

Two separate clusters of thunderstorms developed during the early morning hours of August 3rd, one over central Nebraska and another in the area of the Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas border. The two thunderstorm clusters conjoined into one as they moved towards Highway 283 between 5-6AM CDT. This activity was largely elevated in nature to the north of a surface warm front that was draped west to east just south of the Nebraska-Kansas state line. However, a small portion of the cluster became surface based, at least briefly, over portions of Phelps County where severe wind gusts and damage were reported between 6-7 AM CDT. It appears a microburst occurred just south and southwest of Holdrege given a narrow corridor of damage that included overturned pivots and tree and grain bin damage. A mesonet also measured a wind gust of 78 MPH in the vicinity of the damage. Thunderstorms weakened substantially between 7-8 AM CDT as they moved east across south central Nebraska.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.4100, -99.6800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1118224. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.