Heat — Douglas, Nebraska

2012-06-27 to 2012-06-28 · Douglas, Nebraska

Event narrative

One of the first prolonged heat-wave episodes of the season sent around 45 people to local hospitals in the Omaha area due to heat exhaustion. The heat was also apparently responsible for one death as a Council Bluffs Iowa man was found dead after crashing his vehicle into a construction zone and then attempting to walk for help a half mile down the road. His core body temperature was around 110 degrees.

Wider weather episode

As a large upper level ridge built over the central U.S., temperatures across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa climbed into the 90s to low 100s. When combined with dew point temperatures in the 60s and 70s, heat index values reached 105 to 115 degrees in east central and southeast Nebraska and across southwest Iowa during the afternoon and evening of June 27th and 28th. Overnight lows in the 70s to near 80 provided little relief on the 28th. A slow moving cool front brought some relief to parts of the area during the evening of the 27th and to the rest of the area during the evening and overnight hours of the 28th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 380749. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.