May 10: Windy, windy, windy

The past week or so has seen some pretty active weather across the region as a series of fronts have moved through. With those fronts have come a lot of wind. "Annoying" is the way one metereologist with the National Weather Service described it.

The Hastings office of the National Weather Service took a look at Grand Island's records and made this observation: For 13 of the 14 days from April 23 through Friday, winds peaked above 30 mph. On six of those 14 days, winds peaked above 40 mph. The one "less windy" day still saw a peak gust of 28 mph.

Those numbers should be fairly representative of most of south central Nebraska, according to the Hastings office.

For most of the afternoon near Arthur, Neb., sustained winds were estimated to be in excess of 40 mph, according to a trained volunteer weather observer. Damage was reported to trees in town and a greenhouse was destroyed. The flag at the county offices was ripped from the flagpole.