Flash Flood — Colfax, Nebraska

2024-05-31 · near Leigh, Colfax, Nebraska

Event narrative

This is a continuation of the flash flood that occurred in Platte County. The office received a report from the public that county roads in far northwest Colfax County were impassable due to water. 6 inches of rain had already fallen with rain continuing at the time of the report.

Wider weather episode

Upper-level troughing was noted over the northern Rockies via upper-air analysis the morning of the 30th. This disturbance slowly tracked east across the northern Plains. Associated with this upper-level disturbance, a weakening cold front dove southeast across the northern Plains, stalling out across eastern Nebraska and northwest Iowa by the morning of the 31st. Along and ahead of this front, scattered showers and thunderstorms developed across eastern Nebraska the afternoon of the 30th. While largely remaining below severe limits, a downburst did result in damage to a warehouse in Lincoln that afternoon. More widespread thunderstorms developed along the stalled frontal boundary the afternoon of the 31st, with numerous reports of funnel clouds across northeast Nebraska. Due to the heavy rain and slow-moving nature of these storms, there were a couple instances of flash flooding as well. These flash floods were north of US Highway 30 and west of US Highway 77.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7087, -97.2534)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1181319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.