For the second consecutive night, showers and thunderstorms rolled across portions of south central Nebraska and north central Kansas during the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 15th, primarily between Midnight-8AM. While a good portion of North Central Kansas received heavy rainfall of 2-3 inches, the bigger story across parts of South Central Nebraska was a somewhat unusual period of sustained winds to around 40 MPH, with gusts to between 50-60 MPH or slightly higher.

 Below is a radar loop of shower and thunderstorm activity between late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning...

- The NWS Hastings 30-county coverage area is depicted within the orange outlined area  labeled "GID"    

- Interstate highways are shown by the thick red and black lines          

                 
 

 

 CLICK HERE for an "interactive" map of all PRELIMINARY storm reports across the NWS Hastings coverage area. Many of these same reports are also listed at the bottom of this story:

South Central Nebraska High Winds:
Here are a few "highlights" of the event, based on data from automated wind equipment (see below for more reports):

  • Measured 61 MPH peak wind gust at Grand Island Central Nebraska Regional Airport at 306 AM, which resulted in a small Piper aircraft being flipped over into a fence.
  • Measured 61 MPH wind gust at Aurora airport at 450 AM
  • Measured 55 MPH wind gust at Lexington airport at 1250 AM

These strong winds mainly targeted areas near the Interstate 80 corridor, and were somewhat unusual in that they were not associated with the leading edge of intense thunderstorm outflow and/or intense precipitation, which are normally associated with most damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. Instead, these winds occurred on the BACK side of an area of fairly light showers/weak thunderstorms, and were caused in part by rain falling into dry air aloft, evaporating into the dry air, and causing it to sink rapidly to the surface.

North Central Kansas Locally Heavy Rainfall:
The graphic below depicts an approximation of 24-HOUR RAINFALL totals ending around 7 or 8 AM on the morning of September 15, 2010, based mainly on morning rainfall reports from NWS Cooperative Observers. This heavy rainfall resulted in several pockets of localized flooding, including along the South Fork of the Solomon River which reached flood stage near Osborne by early afternoon.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • The image below does not capture storm-total rainfall for all areas, as some rain fell AFTER the standard 7 or 8 AM reporting time
  • In many areas, this image under-represents what actually fell. Based on radar estimation, most areas in the dark green or blue shading in North Central Kansas ended up with anywhere from 2-3 inches of rain (possibly locally higher).

Through approximately 8 AM, Sept. 15, a few of the highest known gauge readings within the area included:

  • 2.60 inches  at Alton in Osborne County (NWS Cooperative Observer)
  • 2.90 inches  two miles east of Asherville in Mitchell County (trained spotter)
  • 2.55 inches  near Portis in far northern Osborne County (automated gauge along North Fork Solomon River)

Click Here and HereTo Find Additional Daily Precipitation And Temperature Information         

   Current Rainfall Map

 

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY  
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE  
1113 AM CDT WED SEP 15 2010  
   
.TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON  
   
.DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.  
 
            ..REMARKS..  
 
1250 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST LEXINGTON AIRPORT       40.79N 99.78W   
09/15/2010  M55.00 MPH       DAWSON             NE   AWOS              
 
            WIND GUST ASSOCIATED WITH SHOWERS SOUTHEAST OF TOWN.   
            TEMPERATURE ALSO JUMPED ABOUT 10 DEGREES AND DEWPOINT   
            DROPPED ABOUT 20 DEGREES.   
 
0210 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST HOLDREGE AIRPORT        40.45N 99.34W   
09/15/2010  M45.00 MPH       PHELPS             NE   AWOS              
 
            WIND GUSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE   
            AREA.   
 
0215 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST KEARNEY AIRPORT         40.73N 99.01W   
09/15/2010  M49.00 MPH       BUFFALO            NE   AWOS              
 
            WIND GUSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE   
            KEARNEY AREA.   
 
0228 AM     TSTM WND GST     NATOMA                  39.19N 99.02W   
09/15/2010  M46.00 MPH       OSBORNE            KS   BROADCAST MEDIA   
 
            MEASURED BY KSN WEATHER LAB. TIME APPROXIMATE. ALSO 0.82   
            INCHES OF RAIN.   
 
0243 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST GRAND ISLAND            40.92N 98.37W   
09/15/2010  M47.00 MPH       HALL               NE   ASOS              
 
            47 MPH WIND GUST ASSOCIATED WITH SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH   
            THE AREA.  
 
0255 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT    40.97N 98.32W   
09/15/2010  M60.00 MPH       HALL               NE   ASOS              
 
            60 MPH WINDS AT THE AIPORT ASSOCIATED WITH THE BACK EDGE   
            OF SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE AREA.   
 
0306 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT    40.97N 98.32W   
09/15/2010  M61.00 MPH       HALL               NE   ASOS              
 
            PEAK WIND WITH OUTFLOW FROM OVERNIGHT SHOWERS. SMALL   
            PIPER AIRCRAFT FLIPPED OVER INTO FENCE AND DAMAGED.   
 
0335 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST KEARNEY AIRPORT         40.73N 99.01W   
09/15/2010  M51.00 MPH       BUFFALO            NE   AWOS              
 
0448 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST 4 N HASTINGS            40.65N 98.39W   
09/15/2010  M48.00 MPH       ADAMS              NE   OFFICIAL NWS OBS  
 
            MEASURED AT THE NWS OFFICE NORTH OF HASTINGS.   
 
0448 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST AURORA                  40.87N 98.00W   
09/15/2010  M60.00 MPH       HAMILTON           NE   AWOS              
 
0510 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST YORK AIRPORT            40.90N 97.62W   
09/15/2010  M53.00 MPH       YORK               NE   AWOS              
 
0629 AM     HEAVY RAIN       PORTIS                  39.56N 98.69W   
09/15/2010  M2.51 INCH       OSBORNE            KS   OTHER FEDERAL     
 
            6-HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL ON AUTOMATED GAUGE ALONG NORTH FORK  
            SOLOMON RIVER   
 
0634 AM     HEAVY RAIN       1 S WOODSTON            39.44N 99.10W   
09/15/2010  M2.09 INCH       ROOKS              KS   OTHER FEDERAL     
 
            6-HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL FROM AUTOMATED GAUGE ALONG SOUTH   
            FORK SOLOMON RIVER   
 
0634 AM     HEAVY RAIN       1 SSE OSBORNE           39.43N 98.69W   
09/15/2010  M1.68 INCH       OSBORNE            KS   OTHER FEDERAL     
 
            6-HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL FROM AUTOMATED GAUGE ALONG SOUTH   
            FORK SOLOMON RIVER   
 
0657 AM     HEAVY RAIN       4 WNW PLAINVILLE        39.26N 99.37W   
09/15/2010  M1.80 INCH       ROOKS              KS   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
            OVERNIGHT RAINFALL TOTAL   
 
0746 AM     HEAVY RAIN       ALTON                   39.47N 98.95W   
09/15/2010  M2.60 INCH       OSBORNE            KS   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
            OVERNIGHT RAINFALL TOTAL   
 
0909 AM     FLOOD            4 S BELOIT              39.41N 98.11W   
09/15/2010                   MITCHELL           KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
            WATER RUNNING OVER HIGHWAY 14. DEPTH UNKNOWN.  
 
0945 AM     HEAVY RAIN       2 E ASHERVILLE          39.41N 97.94W   
09/15/2010  M2.90 INCH       MITCHELL           KS   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
            STORM TOTAL RAINFALL SINCE LAST NIGHT. RAIN HAS NOW   
            ENDED.   
  

This page was composed by the staff at the National Weather Service in Hastings, Nebraska.

 

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