Thunderstorm Wind in Hall County, Nebraska

Wind gusts exceeding 70 MPH resulted in damage in north-central portions of Grand Island. One shed was damaged, and the local utility company reported a few broken power poles in the area. The Grand Island Central Nebraska Regional Airport ASOS measured a peak gust of 73 MPH at 7:35 PM CDT and a gust of 60 MPH 20 minutes later at 7:55 PM CDT.

A big upper trough was present across the western half of the country with Nebraska along the leading edge of the upper trough. A surface low was across western Kansas and extended into south central Nebraska. A cold front was moving towards the area and intersected with increased moisture. Fairly high mid-level lapse rates and high wind shear were present across south central and central Nebraska but CAPE values were marginal.

Storms developed across south central Nebraska during the evening hours and moved northeastward. The storms began by producing quarter sized hail in Hall County just after 7 PM CDT. Beginning at 7:30 PM CDT, strong wind gusts were measured on the north side of Grand Island and resulted in some damage. One of these gusts got up to 73 mph. The storms went on to produce hail in Sherman, Hall, Merrick, Polk, Buffalo, and Howard Counties. The largest hail was golfball sized and fell in both Hall and Buffalo Counties. A wind gust of 64 mph occurred in Polk County and caused some minor damage to roof and farm equipment. These storms ended by producing quarter sized hail in Buffalo County at 9:45 PM CDT.