Storms that developed over central Nebraska on Tuesday afternoon prompted the National Weather Service to issue a severe thunderstorm watch for areas to the east, including Lincoln.
The watch, which calls for the possibility of hail and high winds, is up through 11 p.m. and includes areas of northeastern, east-central and southeastern Nebraska. Other watches are posted for northern Kansas, northwest Missouri and western Iowa.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of Iowa and Nebraska until 11 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/o0pLD5412D
— NWS Omaha (@NWSOmaha) March 29, 2022
In the Lincoln area, the best chance for severe weather is in the early-evening hours. The chance of showers continues into Wednesday, but the threat of severe weather will erode as temperatures drop.
Wednesday’s high in Lincoln will hold in the 40s.
Tornado season could come earlier this year, forecaster says
Missouri River’s highest level in 2021 in Omaha was a record low
PhotoFiles: It’s a Twister! Nebraska tornadoes through history
It’s a Twister!
A tornado picks up debris outside of Hebron in 1965. A photographer for the Hebron Register newspaper was able to capture this clear shot of the funnel right as it reached the ground.
It’s a Twister!
A tornado approaches Milford in 1964.
It’s a Twister!
A tornado tears across the Plains southwest of Ord in 1961. Harold Holoun got this picture from his father’s farm.
It’s a Twister!
Farmer Wallace Peterson got this shot of a tornado 1¼ miles south of his rural Nebraska homestead in 1968.
It’s a Twister!
A still-forming tornado approaches a stalled train near Grand Island in 1990. The storm would eventually derail 24 cars several cars back from the engine. Note the silhouettes of the two daredevil engineers standing on top of their machine in the lower left corner.
It’s a Twister!
This is a tornado in its infancy. This thunderhead near Stromsburg spawned a series of tornadoes across south-central Nebraska in 1968.
It’s a Twister!
A low, wide funnel cloud dips below the horizon near Auburn in 1963. Witnesses said the cloud was at least a half-mile wide.
It’s a Twister!
It may look small, but it’s mighty. A funnel cloud contemplates whether it should visit the ground 10 miles west of Nebraska City in 1972.
It’s a Twister!
One of the factors that make tornadoes so dangerous is how hard it often is to see the funnel clouds before they reach the ground. A fledgling tornado is barely visible in this 1977 photo from rural Walton.
It’s a Twister!
The same funnel cloud near Walton quickly tightened up and made itself more visible.
It’s a Twister!
This thin tendril of swiftly rotating clouds doesn’t look like much. But its location directly over Grand Island in 1982 was nerve-wracking for the thousands of people who lived there. Luckily, none of the three funnels from this storm touched down inside the city.
It’s a Twister!
An ominous funnel cloud is seen through torrential rains from 5400 Orchard Street in Lincoln in 1961.
It’s a Twister!
This undated photo from rural Nebraska was used as an educational tool by the General Adjustment Bureau of New York City in the 1980s to illustrate what kind of monster could cause such damage on the plains. Those city boys don’t know what they’re missing out here!
It’s a Twister!
A great white devil of a twister nears the Edgar Klein farm in northeast Stromsburg in 1968.
It’s a Twister!
This photo defies both death and time. Taken from the heart of Hildreth, this tornado touched down and terrorized the town in 1908. The picture is more than 100 years old.
It’s a Twister!
Talk about a near miss. A sinister-looking funnel cloud skirts north Lincoln in 1975 but never touched down. The photo was taken from the observation deck of the Capitol (not a safe place to be in a tornado). In the next edition of PhotoFiles, we’ll show you what could have become of the Capital City had it touched down. That’s right. Next time is the aftermath of tornadoes. We’ll see you after the storm clears.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism