Dorchester Times: Weather Warning: Tornado Watch Through 1 A.M. Wednesday

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Weather Warning: Tornado Watch Through 1 A.M. Wednesday

The Dorchester area is included in a tornado watch extending through 1 a.m. Wednesday.

** UPDATE, 8:53 p.m. -- SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SALINE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA... SAUNDERS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA... SEWARD COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA... LANCASTER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA... BUTLER COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...

* UNTIL 930 PM CDT

* AT 844 PM CDT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM NEAR DAVID CITY TO NEAR BEE TO NEAR EXETER...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 55 MPH.

HAZARD...GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AND 70 MPH WIND GUSTS.

SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED.

IMPACT...PEOPLE AND ANIMALS OUTDOORS WILL BE INJURED. EXPECT HAIL DAMAGE TO ROOFS...SIDING...WINDOWS AND VEHICLES. EXPECT CONSIDERABLE TREE DAMAGE. WIND DAMAGE IS ALSO LIKELY TO MOBILE HOMES...ROOFS AND OUTBUILDINGS.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... LINCOLN...SEWARD...CRETE...WAHOO...WAVERLY...DAVID CITY... MILFORD...WILBER...HICKMAN...FRIEND...UTICA...BENNET...FIRTH... DORCHESTER...VALPARAISO...MEAD...DE WITT...BELLWOOD...BEAVER CROSSING AND RISING CITY.

Check the Times' weather service and this radar for the latest weather updates!

See the Journal Star's live weather updates as they happen -- including predictions of the storm movement and images of baseball size hail that has already fallen in northeast Nebraska.)

The watch area defined by the Storm Prediction Center includes almost all of central and eastern Nebraska. The Lincoln, Omaha, Norfolk and Grand Island areas are at moderate risk for severe weather.

Much of the same area was under a moderate risk on Mother's Day, when a tornado blew through Beaver Crossing.

Thunderstorms will begin to develop in central Nebraska and move eastward this afternoon, said Barbara Mayes, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Valley.

Isolated supercell thunderstorms will develop first, bringing with them the potential for hail up to 2 inches in diameter and long-track tornadoes. The greatest risk for tornadoes is over central and eastern Nebraska and includes the Lincoln area.

Later, the thunderstorm clusters are expected to develop into a line. At that point, straight-line winds will be the primary concern -- potentially over hundreds of miles. The area of most concern for widespread wind damage is north of Interstate 80 in Nebraska and across Iowa.

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are expected, but some areas could see 3 to 4 inches, according to the weather service. The storm system should move out of the area by early morning Wednesday.

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."