Thunderstorm Wind — Saunders, Nebraska

2025-09-14 · near Wahoo, Saunders, Nebraska

Event narrative

Amateur radio report of wind gusts estimated up to 60 mph.

Wider weather episode

A line of thunderstorms brought hail and damaging wind gusts to eastern Nebraska on the afternoon of September 19th, 2025. The mid-level atmospheric pattern featured a vigorous trough over southwestern Nebraska, with a belt of stronger mid and upper-level winds circling its eastern edge across central and eastern portions of the state. This setup, combined with a surface low-level convergence zone over eastern Nebraska, provided the focus for storm initiation. Although the environment had relatively steep lapse rates (contributing to instability) and a generally unidirectional wind profile with only modest vertical shear, storms were able to quickly initiate and intensify, though their life spans were relatively short. The first severe report was a damaging 80 MPH wind gust (the highest of the event) that snapped trees and power lines six miles northeast of Tobias in Saline County at 1:36 PM CST. Wind damage continued with a large tree branch falling on a house near Friend (1:48 PM CST) and a measured 59 MPH gust west of Dorchester (1:56 PM CST). As the activity shifted northeastward, it transitioned to large hail reports, beginning with one-inch hail in Hooper (Dodge County) at 2:35 PM CST. Between 3:10 PM and 3:35 PM CST, nickel-to-quarter-sized hail impacted areas west-northwest of Lincoln (Lancaster County), and 1.25-inch hail fell in Lyons (Burt County). The event's final damaging wind report occurred at 3:50 PM CST in Douglas County, where large tree branches were snapped, one landing on a house two miles west of Omaha (estimated 60 MPH wind damage).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.2200, -96.6200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1293993. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.