Large tree limb damage near the Kearney Post Office following the Monday, June 2 storms, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — Severe winds caused damage to tree limbs across north Kearney, while heavy rainfall took place in north central Nebraska during the evening hours of Monday, June 2.
A cold front descended slowly through northern Nebraska during the afternoon hours on Monday and served as the focus for storm development. Due to the speed, flooding was a concern for parts of the area.
Storms began to initiate along the cold front in the late afternoon hours and began to merge together in a linear line over north central Nebraska.
Jaclyn Gomez, meteorologist with the National Weather Service – North Platte, said that slow moving storms had high amounts of precipitable water to access and dropped three inches of rains near Gates and 2.7 inches southeast of Broken Bow.
Gomez noted that the strong low-level jet, a narrow band of strong air that is common on the Great Plains during the warm season, was blowing from the south and actually slowed the storms along the cold front even further, which created the high precipitation amounts in Custer, Sherman, Valley and Greely counties.
The highest rainfall amounts in the National Weather Service – Hastings warning area included 2.62 inches at Rockville, 2.40 inches at Miller, 2.30 inches at North Loup, 2.28 inches at Ord, 2.25 inches at Wolbach and 2.19 inches at Scotia.
The Tri-Cities saw the following, 1.10 inches at Grand Island, 0.78 inches at Kearney and 0.23 inches at Hastings.
Additionally, severe winds were present ahead of the liner storm complex, with a 70-mph wind gust reported at the Broken Bow Airport, according to Gomez.
Konnor Stump, meteorologist with NWS Hastings, said that 63-66 mph wind gusts were reported around 10:20 p.m. to 10:40 p.m. in Kearney. He noted that there was notable damage to larger tree limbs especially on the north side of the community.
Stump noted that while a Flood Advisory was in place on Tuesday morning, the automated gauges on the water ways were not showing concerning values.
It was noted that all of central Nebraska is under drought conditions, and the soil was able to absorb a large amount of moisture.
