Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska

1968 tornadoes in Nebraska

21 tornadoes touched down in Nebraska in 1968, 50 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1967 1969 The whole country in 1968

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 1968

April 16 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 166:10 PM GMT-6F2Nemaha1.210$5,000 to $50,000
April 166:25 PM GMT-6F2Pawnee0.110$5,000 to $50,000

May 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 610:25 PM GMT-6F0Chase0.110

May 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 136:10 PM GMT-5F1Hall58.910$5,000 to $50,000

June 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 98:15 PM GMT-5F0Merrick0.110

June 17 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 176:50 PM GMT-5F1Dawson0.110$5,000 to $50,000

June 21 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 211:30 AM GMT-5F1Holt0.1101$500 to $5,000

June 22 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 229:34 PM GMT-5F1Howard0.110$500 to $5,000
June 2212:40 AM GMT-5F0Knox0.110

June 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2310:02 PM GMT-5F1Hall0.110

June 24 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 243:15 AM GMT-5F1Washington0.110
June 247:40 PM GMT-5F0Douglas0.110$500 to $5,000

June 29 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2910:48 PM GMT-6F0Cherry0.110

July 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 85:00 PM GMT-5F0Cuming1.260

July 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 247:30 PM GMT-6F0Cheyenne0.110

July 26 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 263:30 PM GMT-6F0Cheyenne0.110
July 263:30 PM GMT-6F0Morrill0.110

July 30 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 303:00 PM GMT-5F2York0.110$5,000 to $50,000
July 304:40 PM GMT-5F0Madison0.110
July 306:25 PM GMT-5F2Polk6.42002$50,000 to $500,000

August 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 186:45 PM GMT-5F3Douglas21.310$500,000 to $5 million

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.