Thunderstorm Wind in Kearney County, Nebraska

A wind gust of 62 MPH was measured by a mesonet located four miles west-southwest of Minden.

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms dropped southeast from the Nebraska Sandhills and into south central Nebraska during evening hours. Initially, a fairly isolated thunderstorm moved into Valley county, prompted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and produced a 65 mph wind gust. As that storm moved into Sherman county, tree damage was reported near Loup City by the Emergency Manager. Eventually, more storms developed to the west, again oozing south/southeast with time. The Kearney Airport reported a 61 mph wind gust and a 62 mph wind gusts occurred southwest of Minden. Though the thunderstorms did produce 60 mph wind gusts in spots, the storms were largely sub-severe and that kept wind damage to a minimum.

As can be typical for late August, thunderstorms developed to the northwest and spread southeast in a northwest atmospheric flow. The thunderstorms developed as a subtle shortwave slid southeast in the flow. As the storms moved southeast, they encountered slightly better effective shear of 30-45 knots. However, the missing link was the instability. The area was in the midst of a late summer cool-down with lower dewpoints than normal and a drier and less unstable air mass overall. Mid-level lapse rates were also only marginally unstable. While there were a few severe wind reports, the limited instability and weaker flow in late August gave the thunderstorms more 'bark than bite' despite their pretty impressive radar appearance.