Temperatures spiked nearly 20 degrees one morning in July of 2024 in Nebraska, a somewhat rare phenomenon called a heat burst.

The TemperatureRadar showed temperatures surging nearly 20 degrees within a two-hour period between midnight and 2 a.m. local time in western Nebraska on July 31, 2024. This phenomenon is called a heat burst, a relatively rare weather event.

Heat bursts in the U.S. are the most common in the Plains states during late spring and summer. Heat bursts are caused by dying thunderstorms. You can see the thunderstorm that caused this heat burst in Nebraska on the WeatherRadar.

When a thunderstorm is dying, and there is not enough precipitation falling or the air is too dry, the precipitation evaporates before reaching the surface. The air falls quickly and warms by compression, resulting in a blast of hot, dry wind reaching the surface. Wind gusts can easily exceed 30-40 mph during a heat burst.