Thunderstorm Wind in Mills County, Iowa

Personal weather station measured gust of 62 mph.

On the evening of June 16, 2026, a surface boundary stretched across the eastern Nebraska-South Dakota border and into west-central Iowa. Moisture pooling and steep lapse rates created substantial instability along the boundary, while increasing mid/upper-level flow from a jet streak provided shear supportive of intense convection. Storms initiated along the front in northeast Nebraska in the early evening, then pushed south-southeast across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa through the evening. These storms produced wind gusts up to 65 mph and hail up to 1.75 inches in diameter. One particularly strong storm moved through Laurel, NE, causing extensive tree damage, overturned irrigation pivots, and downed power poles. Another storm pushing into the northern outskirts of the Omaha area produced a severe outflow boundary with measured wind gusts up to 64 mph. The storms gradually weakened late in the evening as they continued their southward trek.