Thunderstorm Wind — Polk, Nebraska

2024-04-06 · near Stromsburg, Polk, Nebraska

Event narrative

The roof was blown off of a building used for 190 head of cattle...unfortunately one died and a few others were injured. Other outbuildings at the farmstead suffered minor damage. Wind gusts were estimated to have been near 75 MPH.

Wider weather episode

As an upper low approached the Central Plains from the west, a dryline associated with it moved across the Southern Plains and portions of the Central Plains. The surface pressure gradient strengthened just ahead of the upper low and resulted in strong winds across the Central Plains. CAPE values of only around 500 J/kg were present, but wind shear was strong across the area. A line of severe storms developed and moved across south central and central Nebraska during the afternoon into the evening hours of April 6th. These storms produced severe wind gusts. The strongest wind was in Polk County south of Stromsburg at around 6:15 PM CDT. Wind gusts were estimated to have been near 75 mph which resulted in a roof being blown off of a cattle building. Reports of high winds, apart from thunderstorms, began during the morning of April 6th and continued across the area into the early morning hours of April 7th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.0955, -97.5791)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1170908. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.