Flash Flood — Madison, Nebraska

2025-07-07 to 2025-07-08 · near Newman Grove, Madison, Nebraska

Event narrative

During the evening of July 7th, heavy rainfall moved through southwest Madison county with rainfall rates of 1.5-3 inches per hour at times with an estimated 3-4 inches of total rainfall. This led to flash flooding with emergency management reporting water over roadways. This flash flood also continued into Platte and Boone counties.

Wider weather episode

On July 7, 2025, a lee surface trough pushed into western Nebraska and South Dakota during the afternoon, initiating scattered thunderstorms across the region. By evening, these storms consolidated into a larger mesoscale convective system (MCS) that tracked into northeast Nebraska before expanding southward across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa through the night.

Ahead of the main MCS, several discrete supercells developed in northeast Nebraska, producing significant hail. Notable reports included measured 3-inch diameter stones 3 miles west of Obert, NE; hail estimated near tennis-ball size 4 miles west-northwest of Winnetoon, NE; and a measured 1.75-inch stone 3 miles east-southeast of Wynot, NE. As the evening progressed, these initial cells were absorbed into the growing MCS, which transitioned into a primarily damaging wind threat. A swath of measured wind gusts ranging from 58 to 67 mph was reported across much of east-central Nebraska into southwest Iowa.

The convective complex gradually weakened as it approached the northern Kansas and Missouri border. However, widespread heavy rainfall persisted behind the system, leading to flooding concerns'particularly in northeast Nebraska, where emergency management reported water over multiple highways and roadways in Antelope, Boone, and Platte Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.8743, -97.8331)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1278830. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.