A strong cold front brought intense non-thunderstorm and thunderstorm-related wind gusts to south central Nebraska on Sunday evening the 11th. This front entered western portions of the Hastings NWS county warning area (CWA) around 7pm CDT. The cold front already had a history of producing severe caliber, non-thunderstorm, straight line winds over western and central Nebraska, and this trend continued along and just behind the cold front as it marched through south central Nebraska. The strongest winds, initially, were focused roughly along an area from Furnas County northeast into Buffalo County, where measured and estimated wind gusts of 55-65 mph were fairly common. Damage reports from these areas were fairly typical for winds of this magnitude and mainly limited to tree and power line damage. By 7:30pm CDT, an area of showers and thunderstorms developed along and just behind the cold front over Kearney and Franklin Counties as the cold front continued to progress east. This activity reached roughly the Highway 281 corridor from Grand Island to Hastings around 8pm CDT. Wind gusts associated with the passage of the cold front had weakened slightly by this time, but were still quite strong around 50-55 mph, with mainly minor tree damage and power outages reported in the Tri Cities. After 8pm CDT, the area of thunderstorms began to expand northeast and connected up with existing thunderstorms that had already developed along the cold front over northeast and east central Nebraska, essentially filling in a gap that had existed in between the two thunderstorm clusters. Thunderstorm intensity increased just east of Hastings between 8pm CDT and 8:30pm CDT, such that the wind gusts produced by the thunderstorms exacerbated the already-high ambient synoptically driven non-thunderstorm wind gusts associated with the cold front. This resulted in the strongest wind gusts of the evening, generally 60 to 70mph, in a swath that covered portions of Clay, Fillmore, and Thayer Counties. Significant tree damage occurred in these areas, along with damage to a few empty grain bins. Another significant impact, albeit somewhat less obvious or common than typical tree/power line damage, was blowing dust and corn stalks (this event occurred during the harvest season) that led to reduced visibility and ultimately contributed to a four-vehicle accident along Highway 81 just north of Bruning. Another incidence of poor visibility caused a vehicle to leave the roadway in Clay County.
The highest wind gust with this event was 71 mph, measured by a mesonet station in Thayer County. As mentioned above, the damaging wind events in the eastern half of the CWA were largely driven by convective winds that enhanced already-high ambient winds. Farther west, the severe wind was non-convective and driven by intense pressure rises behind the cold front on the order of 3-5 mb/2 hrs. Overall, this event was one of the more significant wind events of the season and was somewhat unique due to the narrow overlap, spatially and temporally, of both convective and non-convective damaging winds.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:09:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:09:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH caused minor tree damage and downed power lines in Clay Center.

High Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:18:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:18:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 2.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in downed powerlines at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 283.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:19:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:19:00 (CST-6)
Location: HARVARD
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

High Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 18:08:00 to 11-OCT-20 18:08:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 58 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile north of Oxford.

High Wind in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 18:24:00 to 11-OCT-20 18:24:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 63 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 3 miles northeast of Bertrand.

High Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 18:41:00 to 11-OCT-20 18:41:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 63 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 5 miles north-northwest of Oxford.

High Wind in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:03:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:03:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

A wind gust of 58 MPH was recorded by the Kearney Airport AWOS.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:15:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: HARVARD
Magnitude: 52.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 60 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 4 miles southwest of Harvard.

High Wind in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:24:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:24:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 54.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 62 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 1 mile southwest of Roseland.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:27:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: SUTTON
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in tree damage in Sutton. A few downed branches were at least 6 inches in diameter.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:20:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:21:00 (CST-6)
Location: SARONVILLE
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 2.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in blowing dust and corn stalks in the area, along with near zero visibility. One vehicle left the roadway due to the conditions. A power line was blown into a tree just northwest of town, causing a fire in the tree.

Thunderstorm Wind in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:35:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAFTON
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 30.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH damaged some empty grain bins.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 20:10:00 to 11-OCT-20 20:11:00 (CST-6)
Location: BRUNING
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 80.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH caused downed tree branches in Bruning of at least 4 inches in diameter. An empty 500 gallen water tank was blown onto Main Street. There was a 4 vehicle accident on Highway 81 just north of Bruning due to poor visibility in blowing dust and corn stalks. Two of the vehicles were total losses.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:47:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:47:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 62.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 71 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 1 mile south-southeast of Davenport.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:48:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 58.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 67 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 2 miles south-southeast of Davenport.

Thunderstorm Wind in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:48:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: FAIRMONT
Magnitude: 58.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 67 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 2 miles east-northeast of Fairmont.

Thunderstorm Wind in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:50:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: FAIRMONT
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:52:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:52:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 51.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 59 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 6 miles south-southeast of Davenport.

Thunderstorm Wind in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 19:57:00 to 11-OCT-20 19:57:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHICKLEY
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 63 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 4 miles north of Shickley.

Thunderstorm Wind in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 11-OCT-20 20:03:00 to 11-OCT-20 20:03:00 (CST-6)
Location: STRANG
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located 3 miles east of Strang.