If you felt like severe weather was widespread across Nebraska during June, preliminary storm reports available through the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) would indicate that you are correct. According to SPC, there were 16 days when at least one storm report was issued, with 8 of these days occurring during the June 3-12 period. Preliminary data indicates that there were 11 tornado touchdowns, 292 hail damage reports and 196 wind damage reports issued during the month.
The minimum hail diameter size for inclusion into the storm data base is one inch (quarter size), with two inch or greater diameter hail (hen egg size) considered to be a significant hail event. The SPC preliminary storm data base indicates that 52 significant hail reports were submitted in June, with the largest hail diameter reported during the month being 5 inches (grapefruit size) near Beatrice on June 11th. A breakdown of hail dates and the number of hail reports submitted are as follows: 6/3 – 2, 6/4 - 23, 6/5 - 21, 6/6 - 24, 6/7 - 89, 6/9 - 13, 6/11 - 12, 6/12 - 2, 6/14 - 71, 6/16 - 10, 6/19 - 1, 6/20 – 17, 6/24 - 3, 6/25 - 4.
The minimum criteria for a one minute wind gusts to be considered as a severe event is 60 miles per hour (mph) according to SPC and any wind gust of 70 mph or greater is quantified as a significant wind event. Preliminary June storm reports indicate that thunderstorms produced severe wind gusts on 12 days in June and a total of 10 significant wind gusts were observed by storm spotters. The highest gust recorded was 90 mph on June 14th two miles east-northeast of Lushton in York County. A breakdown of severe wind gust dates and the number submitted are as follows: 6/4 - 2, 6/5 – 8, 6/6 -16, 6/7 - 74, 6/11 - 6, 6/12 - 9, 6/14 - 43, 6/16 - 7, 6/20 – 13, 6/24 - 12, 6/29 - 4, 6/30 - 2.
Thunderstorms activity from the afternoon of June 7th through the early morning hours of June 8th, as well as from the late evening hours of June 14th through the early morning hours of June 15th produced wind and hail damage tracks exceeding 100 miles in length. On June 7th widespread storm damage was reported from the southwest Panhandle southeast to McCook, from the northwestern Sandhill region southeast to Red Cloud and from Loup City southeast to Beatrice. The longest storm track occurred June 14-15 when thunderstorms produced a continuous line of damage approximately 20 miles wide from Lexington east-northeast to Omaha.
Al Dutcher, Agricultural Extension Climatologist, Nebraska State Climate Office