1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 11, 2:45 AM CST, 9 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE 345 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001 SEVERE CONVECTION IS ONGOING AND WILL BE THE MAIN CONCERN THROUGH THIS EVENING. BOW ECHO WILL MOVE OUT OF SWRN IA EARLY...BUT SOME STORMS LIKELY TO CONTINUE FOR A WHILE THIS MORNING. SFC PRESSURE WAS STILL FALLING LIKE A ROCK IN ERN CO AS OF 08Z. WARM FRONT TO LIFT NORTH TODAY...WHILE THE MAIN UPPER LEVEL ENERGY LIFTS OUT. LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER LATER TODAY. QUITE A BIT OF VARIATION OF MAX TEMPERATURES TODAY ACROSS THE FCST AREA. SURFACE LOW MOVES TO NERN NE BY LATE AFTN...JUST AHEAD OF THE MID TROPOSPHERIC CIRCULATION. THERE WILL BE SOME WRAP AROUND PCPN TONIGHT...BUT MAIN EVENT AFTER ANY EVENING CONVECTION WILL BE STRONG NW WIND. WILL LIKELY BE ENOUGH FOR A WIND ADVISORY IN LATER FCSTS...POSSIBLY EVEN A HIGH WIND WARNING. PRESSURE GRADIENT DECREASES ON THURSDAY... WITH LESS ACTIVE WEATHER FOR THE BAL6ANCE OF THE WEEK. TOO BUSY RIGHT NOW FOR ANY MORE DISCUSSION. .OMA...NONE. MILLER
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-111700- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 725 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001 STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED AGAIN TODAY OVER EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER MAINLY EAST OF A LINE FROM PENDER TO WAHOO AND TECUMSEH. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OVER THE REST OF THE AREA. ONE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS SHIFTED EAST OUT OF THE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING. THE WEATHER COULD BECOME VERY ACTIVE BY LATE MORNING. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK NORTHEAST FROM WESTERN KANSAS INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA BY LATE AFTERNOON. AT THE SAME TIME A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL APPROACH FROM THE SOUTHWEST. WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL BE LIFTED NORTH INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA AHEAD OF A DRY LINE. THE MAIN THREATS ARE DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...BUT ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO BE MUCH LESS AFTER ABOUT 900 PM. MILLER
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-111701- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 915 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001 STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED TODAY OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER OVER THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK NORTHEAST FROM WESTERN KANSAS INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA BY LATE AFTERNOON AND LIFT A WARM FRONT INTO THE AREA. AT THE SAME TIME...A VERY STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST. VERY UNSTABLE AND MOIST AIR WILL INTERACT WITH THE LOW PRESSURE CENTER AND FRONTS TO BRING THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER. THE MAIN THREATS ARE DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...HOWEVER SOME TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN THE VICINITY OF THE WARM FRONT. SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MAINTAIN A HIGH STATE OF READINESS. PEOPLE ARE URGED TO MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR WATCHES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. HAVE A PLAN OF ACTION TO SEEK SAFETY IF WARNINGS ARE ISSUED OR WEATHER THREATENS. GW
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
1013 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1200 PM COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 38 MPH TSTM GUST
04/10/01 POTTAWATTAMIE *** 1 DEAD, 1 INJ ***
2 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
BLOWN OFF ROOF OF
BUILDING. EVENT
DURATION 1 MINUTE.
REPORTED BY MEDIA.IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-112200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1120 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001 STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE CONTINUED TO REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. THERE IS A MODERATE TO HIGH RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER OVER THE AREA INTO THIS AFTERNOON. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK NORTHEAST FROM NORTHWEST KANSAS INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA BY LATE AFTERNOON AND LIFT A WARM FRONT INTO THE AREA. AT THE SAME TIME...A VERY STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST. VERY UNSTABLE AND MOIST AIR WILL INTERACT WITH THE LOW PRESSURE CENTER AND FRONTS TO BRING THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER. THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL DECREASE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH OVER THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AS DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR MOVES INTO THE ARE FROM THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. MAIN THREATS ARE DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...HOWEVER SOME TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN THE VICINITY OF THE WARM FRONT. SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MAINTAIN A HIGH STATE OF READINESS. PEOPLE ARE URGED TO MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR WATCHES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. HAVE A PLAN OF SEVERE WEATHER ACTION PLAN IF WARNINGS ARE ISSUED OR WEATHER THREATENS. GW
NEZ065-066-068-078-088>093-111800- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1240 PM CDT WED APR 11 2001 ...TORNADO WATCH CANCELED FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 133 IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA... SEWARD...LANCASTER...OTOE...SALINE...GAGE...JEFFERSON... JOHNSON...NEMAHA...PAWNEE AND RICHARDSON. THE WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM CST AS EARLIER ISSUED FOR THE REST OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. GW
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:55 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
This tornado was caught on film by a storm chaser. Two large barns and an outbuilding were destroyed, and a roof was taken off of a house. From the same mini-supercell that first produced a tornado near Emerson, Iowa.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2001Warnings in Iowa, April 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5239351.