Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska

1962 tornadoes in Nebraska

41 tornadoes touched down in Nebraska in 1962, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1961 1963 The whole country in 1962

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Nebraska in 1962

April 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 267:30 PM GMT-6F2Valley2.010$5,000 to $50,000

May 7 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 77:30 PM GMT-5F2Dodge1.0105$5,000 to $50,000

May 14 9 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 143:00 PM GMT-7F1Kimball0.110
May 143:00 PM GMT-7F1Kimball0.110
May 143:00 PM GMT-7F1Dundy0.110
May 146:00 PM GMT-5F3Boyd to SD53.81,7608
May 144:30 PM GMT-7F2Box Butte18.3880$5,000 to $50,000
May 147:30 PM GMT-5F1Lincoln0.110
May 147:30 PM GMT-5F1Lincoln0.510
May 147:30 PM GMT-5F1Logan0.110
May 147:30 PM GMT-5F1Logan0.110

May 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 154:00 PM GMT-7F2Cherry0.110$5,000 to $50,000

May 17 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 177:30 PM GMT-5F1Phelps0.110
May 1710:20 PM GMT-5F0Pierce0.110

May 18 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 182:40 PM GMT-5F2Frontier14.210$5,000 to $50,000
May 182:55 PM GMT-5F0Lincoln0.110
May 181:15 PM GMT-7F1Keith0.110
May 184:41 PM GMT-5F0Lincoln0.110
May 184:45 PM GMT-5F1Garfield0.110
May 185:30 PM GMT-7F1Chase0.110

May 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 204:00 PM GMT-7F2Sheridan3.610$5,000 to $50,000

May 21 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 211:00 PM GMT-7F0Sheridan0.110
May 217:50 PM GMT-5F3Madison71.75007$500,000 to $5 million
May 218:45 PM GMT-5F3Boyd to SD11.010$50,000 to $500,000

May 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 246:30 PM GMT-7F1Scotts Bluff0.110$5,000 to $50,000

May 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 285:30 PM GMT-5F1Hitchcock0.110$5,000 to $50,000

May 29 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2911:15 AM GMT-5F0Custer0.110
May 2911:15 AM GMT-5F0Buffalo0.110
May 2912:40 PM GMT-5F4Holt24.2300

June 6 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 67:45 PM GMT-5F0Polk0.110$50 to $500
June 610:10 PM GMT-5F0Seward0.110

June 15 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 153:00 PM GMT-7F0Sheridan0.410$5,000 to $50,000
June 154:50 PM GMT-7F2Box Butte21.310
June 156:00 PM GMT-7F3Cherry0.1106$50,000 to $500,000
June 156:25 PM GMT-7F0Cherry0.110

June 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 163:00 PM GMT-5F1Red Willow0.110

June 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 205:45 PM GMT-7F1Kimball59.910

June 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 304:40 PM GMT-7F0Cherry0.110

July 21 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 219:30 PM GMT-5F3Polk25.28801$50,000 to $500,000

August 2 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 25:00 PM GMT-5F1Thomas0.1200$500 to $5,000

August 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 44:30 PM GMT-5F1Thayer1.2400$500 to $5,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in NebraskaThe live radar over Nebraska

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.