Overview
Over the weekend, several rounds of storms brought rain to nearly the entire state, with some severe storms causing damage to properties and crops. The Tri-Cities area experienced widespread flooding.
Saturday, June 20th
On Saturday, a mid-level shortwave trough moved into Western Nebraska in the afternoon and slowly moved eastward as a surface low formed over eastern Colorado. Over time, an east-northeast-oriented warm front draped from eastern Colorado into Kansas lifted northward into Nebraska.
Elevated storms initially formed in central Nebraska, then moved east and southeast toward the Tri-Cities area. Several storms, moved through the area, dumping a few inches of rain across the region. Some of the storms were severe (see Storm Reports link) and the heavy rain rates prompted flash flood warnings to be issued by the Hastings National Weather Service office.
Soon after, a few discrete supercells also formed over far southwestern Nebraska, one of which produced 3-inch hail and a brief tornado. A weak touchdown was reported in a public mPING report about 4 miles northwest of Stratton, Nebraska. These discrete storms would move southeast before congealing into an MCS in Kansas.
The last severe storm and substantial rainfall over the Tri-Cities area occurred in the evening, causing damage to houses from 64-MPH wind gusts and 1.5-inch hail. Through the night, the clusters that had tracked across central and eastern Nebraska merged and pushed southeast, shifting the heaviest rain and the remaining severe threat out of the Tri-cities and toward southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas.
Sunday, June 21st
On Sunday morning, one more round of thunderstorms and showers moved through South Central and Southwest Nebraska.
In the afternoon, another round of severe thunderstorms formed over western Nebraska and trekked southeastward, over the same location as the previous day’s storms. Exactly 24 hours apart, another supercell moved over Stratton, Nebraska, and produced slightly larger hailstones of 3.2 inches. In addition, there was a wind report of 81-MPH with additional reports of heavy structural damage in Keith County.
The repeated rounds over the same areas added up: storm totals reached 3 to nearly 5 inches across much of central and south-central Nebraska, with totals of 4.83 inches near Edgar, 4.61 inches at Wood River, and 4.58 inches at Loup City. With the widespread heavy rainfall, symptoms of the ongoing drought could be addressed. As a result, there is a 1-class improvement in drought across most of Central Nebraska.
Figure 1. One-week change on the U.S. Drought Monitor
