Dust Storm — York, Nebraska

2018-04-29 · York, Nebraska

Event narrative

Sustained southerly winds of at least 30 MPH and frequent gusts over 40 MPH resulted in an extended period of blowing dust out of freshly tilled fields. This dust crossed portions of Interstate 80, resulting in quickly changing visibility, down to zero at times. A 29 vehicle pile-up occurred on Interstate 80 just after 4 p.m. CST near the Aurora interchange. There were multiple vehicle extractions, with 15 victims transported to local hospitals, and 1 fatality. Interstate 80 was closed for over 2 hours, opening back up around 8 p.m. CDT.

Wider weather episode

Sunday the 29th and Monday the 30th were two of the windiest consecutive days of spring 2018 within South Central Nebraska, especially in terms of SOUTH winds. On both days, primarily the afternoon featured several hours of sustained speeds commonly 25-35 MPH (isolated 40 MPH) and frequent gusts to around 50 MPH, along with isolated severe-criteria gusts of 58+ MPH. Also on both days, the combination of recent dry conditions and recently-tilled fields promoted a number of localized dust storms, causing drastic visibility reductions over short distances. Specifically on the late afternoon of the 29th, dust blowing across Interstate 80 near the Aurora exit led to a major pileup of 29 vehicles, closing I-80 for over two hours. Sadly, this incident resulted in one fatality and over a dozen injuries.

As for measured winds from a variety of official and unofficial sources, a few peak gusts on the 29th featured: 62 MPH near Kearney (mesonet), 59 MPH near Oxford (mesonet), and 58 MPH at Grand Island and Ord airports. At Kearney Regional Airport, sustained winds averaged 40 MPH for an hour, mainly between 12-1 PM CDT. Although it remained quite breezy even after dark, gusts by late evening largely eased below 40 MPH. Turning to the meteorological background, this was a classic recipe for prolonged, strong south winds across the Central Plains. In the mid-upper levels, an expansive, large-scale trough gradually deepened over the western CONUS, only edging slowly eastward. This in turn promoted strengthening surface low pressure across the Central High Plains, averaging around 998 millibars in eastern Colorado. This low pressure, in concert with sprawling high pressure centered over the eastern CONUS, set up a healthy pressure gradient. During the height of the strongest winds on the 29th, the state of Nebraska featured roughly a 16-millibar gradient, ranging from around 1000 millibars in the western Panhandle, to around 1016 millibars in far southeast counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 752986. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.