Loading...
Loading...
The strongest wind in Nebraska on July 30, 2026 came out of the Sandhills. Between 4:50 and 4:58 p.m., three separate gusts were measured 13 miles northwest of Brownlee in Cherry County — 81 mph, then 83 mph, then a 92 mph reading the National Weather Service office in North Platte (LBF) classified as destructive. Wind at that speed does not simply loosen roofing. It strips panels off their fasteners, snaps power poles, and turns anything unsecured in a farmyard into something that hits the house.
Twenty-five minutes earlier, a brief landspout was reported 20 miles north of Mullen, also in Cherry County — the only tornado report anywhere in Nebraska that day, and the kind of short-lived, weak circulation the open Sandhills spin up along colliding boundaries. From there the complex spent the next nine hours working southeast without falling apart. It put an 81 mph gust five miles north of Ainsworth in Brown County just after 5 p.m., 69 mph northeast of Stuart in Holt County, and walnut-sized 1.50-inch hail on Stapleton in Logan County at 6:40 p.m. — "quarters to ping pong," as the spotter put it. After 7 p.m. it produced 85 mph and 77 mph gusts west-southwest of Callaway in Custer County, at 7:50 p.m. the Ord airport in Valley County recorded 72 mph — a figure the Hastings office (GID) later revised upward from an initial 71 mph — and by 9 p.m. it had reached the Platte Valley, clocking 81 mph at Johnson Lake in Gosper County and 72 mph at both the Lexington airport and three miles east of town. Nor did it quit at the state line: it sagged southeast through north-central Kansas after midnight — 69 mph at Lebanon, 74 mph near Belleville, an old barn roof torn off at Blue Rapids — and its northern edge shaved the extreme southeast corner of Nebraska on the way past, a personal weather station two miles west-northwest of Preston in Richardson County measuring 67 mph at 1:28 a.m. on July 31 (OAX). That was the only Nebraska report filed on the 31st, and the last damage this system did in the state before handing off to Missouri.
A storm that runs better than three hundred miles does not treat every property alike. One farmstead takes the 92 mph core, the next takes the hail, and the one after that gets an hour of 60 mph gusts that never generate a report at all — and that third case is where damage quietly accumulates, because there is no single dramatic moment to point an adjuster toward. Most of this track stayed north and west of the counties our crews work, so nobody from our office is heading to Brownlee or Callaway. The overnight tail is the exception: Preston sits about four miles from Falls City, and a gust that arrives at 1:30 in the morning is one nobody watches happen. If you are in Richardson or Nemaha County, that end of this storm is ours to look at — call (402) 265-3017. Anywhere else along the track, the lookup tool below covers the whole state and will show you which part of the complex crossed your address.
Read about the Statewide, Nebraska storm above? Now find out how close it actually came to your address. Insurance companies want a specific storm and a specific date. Look up your address below to see exactly which hail and wind events passed over your home — so you can file with confidence, not guesswork.
Enter your address to see recent storms, how close they passed, and the exact dates — the same details your insurer will ask for.
Not every storm is worth a claim. As a rule of thumb, it's worth having us take a look if all three of these are true:
Here's where the Statewide, Nebraska storm caused the most damage. If you're in or near one of these towns, get your roof checked.
The day's peak: a destructive 92 mph gust 13 miles northwest of town, the last of three readings that also hit 81 and 83 mph within eight minutes.
A brief landspout was reported 20 miles north of Mullen at 4:33 p.m. — the only tornado logged in Nebraska on July 30.
An 81 mph gust hit five miles north of Ainsworth just after 5 p.m. as the complex tracked east across the northern Sandhills.
Walnut-sized 1.50" hail — "quarters to ping pong" — fell at 6:40 p.m., followed later that evening by an 81 mph gust in town.
A Davis weather station 11 miles west-southwest of Callaway measured 85 mph after 7 p.m., then 77 mph twenty minutes later.
The Ord airport clocked a 72 mph gust at 7:50 p.m., a reading the National Weather Service corrected upward from its initial 71 mph report.
The line reached the Platte Valley by 9 p.m. with 81 mph at Johnson Lake and 72 mph at both the Lexington airport and three miles east of town.
The overnight tail: 67 mph measured two miles west-northwest of Preston at 1:28 a.m. on July 31 — about four miles from Falls City, and the only Nebraska report of that date.
Preston (Richardson County) storm helpSevere weather rarely respects town lines. Southeast Seamless inspects and repairs storm damage across these nearby communities, too.
Storm damage often hides until the next heavy rain. Here's what to check after a hail or wind event — or let us do it for you, free.
In Nebraska you typically have a limited window — often one to two years from the date of the storm — to file a hail or wind damage claim. Document damage early, before the deadline and before the next heavy rain turns a hidden bruise into an interior leak.
Yes — one. The National Weather Service in North Platte logged a brief landspout 20 miles north of Mullen in Cherry County at about 4:33 p.m. on July 30, 2026. It was the only tornado report in the state that day, and the damaging weather that followed came from straight-line wind rather than rotation.
The peak was 92 mph, measured 13 miles northwest of Brownlee in Cherry County and rated destructive. The same complex produced 85 mph near Callaway, 81 mph at Ainsworth, Stapleton, and Johnson Lake, 72 mph at both Ord and Lexington, and a final 67 mph at Preston after midnight — a damaging-wind track better than 300 miles long.
About 1.50 inches — walnut size. The spotter described the fall as "quarters to ping pong," meaning a mix of roughly one-inch and one-and-a-half-inch stones. Hail in that range bruises shingle mats, dents soft metal, and strips granules without necessarily leaving anything visible from the ground.
A landspout is a tornado that forms from the ground up along a wind-shift boundary rather than descending from a rotating supercell. They are usually brief and weak, and this one was reported as such. But the 92 mph straight-line gust recorded near Brownlee the same afternoon was far more destructive than the landspout — a common pattern in Nebraska.
Yes — barely, and after midnight. As the complex crossed northern Kansas it clipped Richardson County, and a weather station two miles west-northwest of Preston measured a 67 mph gust at 1:28 a.m. on July 31, 2026. That was the only Nebraska storm report filed on the 31st. Preston sits roughly four miles from Falls City.
Yes. Richardson and Nemaha counties are inside our service area, so if that 67 mph overnight gust crossed your property we will inspect the roof, gutters, and siding at no charge — call (402) 265-3017. A 1:30 a.m. gust is one nobody watches happen, which is exactly why it is worth a look.
Photograph the roof, gutters, and outbuildings now, while July 30, 2026 is easy to establish, and use the storm-lookup tool on this page to show how the track crossed your address. Most Nebraska policies allow one to two years to file. Out along the Sandhills leg, pair that record with a contractor local to Cherry, Custer, or Dawson County.
When Todd & Troy Bennett started Southeast Seamless in 1999, they built it on a simple principle: treat every customer the way you'd want to be treated.
"We know that inviting someone to work on your home is a big deal. That's why we show up on time, communicate clearly, clean up after ourselves, and follow through on everything we promise."
— Todd & Troy Bennett, Owners
Quick Response Time
Fill out this form and someone will be in touch within a few hours.
No obligation. No pressure. Just honest advice.