Finally, rain! A welcomed relief and encouragement for area residents. Yet for some in the area, it has come with high wind and hail. This semi-trailer was blown over on top of an adjacent trailer and the 9-mile corner north of Superior this week.
Unstable weather is being blamed for numerous weather alerts in recent days. Radar has detected cloud rotations and been the basis for sounding tornado alarms in multiple communities but thus far major damage has been avoided in the primary distribution area served by this newspaper.
About 10:50 Friday an EF 0 tornado packing 85 mile per hour winds touched down on the west side of Highway 78, five to six miles north of Guide Rock. The storm traveled just more than 6 miles on the ground and had a maximum width of 80 yards. Most of its track was in Webster County but it did penetrate Nuckolls County by about one mile as it traveled to the northeast.
The worst damage along it path occurred at a nearby farmstead, at which there was widespread tree damage and minor damage to the home. The tornado crossed the highway and sporadically damaged trees for the next couple of miles and damaged two additional farmsteads. Eventually grazed another farmstead and damaged two areas of cedar trees. The tornado likely ended at or near a farmstead in far western Nuckolls County where some tree and outbuilding damage was reported. Spotters from the Lawrence Volunteer Fire Department were out watching the storm.
Alerts were issued again Monday afternoon in the same general area but thus far we have not learned of any reported damage.
The South Central Public Power District had 16 poles go down during the May 2 storm between Inavale and Lawrence.
Because of the severe storm forecast with perhaps 70 mile per hour winds, hail and tornadoes many area schools dismissed about noon with the hope the youngsters would be home before the storm arrived. The line of thunderstorms was expected to move into this area about the time schools would normally dismiss for the day.
A tornado watch stretching from Valentine in the north to Great Bend in the south was issued for Monday. The area in the watch contains a population of nearly 438,000 people, 468 schools and 56 hospitals.
A 4:25 Monday a tornado warning was issued for this area.
A number of area business firms also closed early on Monday because of the storm threat.
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