B737-800 crew reported encountering severe turbulence at FL300 in the vicinity of oma.

Attributes
ACN	1434974
Time
Date	201703
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZMP.ARTCC
State Reference	MN
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

West of dsm iowa and in the vicinity of oma nebraska; we encountered severe turbulence while at FL300 with climb clearance to FL320. During the event we were unable to maintain altitude and descended in the downdraft at 1500 - 1700 fpm reaching approximately FL280 before we were able to stop the descent and climb. (The turbulence in the descent was increasingly worse at lower altitude). We then continued to climb back to the previously cleared altitude of FL320 where the turbulence steadily diminished and we were able to re-engage the automatics. During the event; we communicated with air traffic control our condition and actions to the best of our ability. The event lasted approximately 10-15 minutes; with no reported injuries from the flight deck or cabin.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 crew reported encountering severe turbulence at FL300 in the vicinity of OMA.

Narrative: West of DSM Iowa and in the vicinity of OMA Nebraska; we encountered severe turbulence while at FL300 with climb clearance to FL320. During the event we were unable to maintain altitude and descended in the downdraft at 1500 - 1700 fpm reaching approximately FL280 before we were able to stop the descent and climb. (The turbulence in the descent was increasingly worse at lower altitude). We then continued to climb back to the previously cleared altitude of FL320 where the turbulence steadily diminished and we were able to re-engage the automatics. During the event; we communicated with Air Traffic Control our condition and actions to the best of our ability. The event lasted approximately 10-15 minutes; with no reported injuries from the flight deck or cabin.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.