Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska

1976 tornadoes in Nebraska

25 tornadoes touched down in Nebraska in 1976, 41 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1975 1977 The whole country in 1976

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 1976

March 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 117:00 PM CSTF1Dawson0.850$500,000 to $5 million

April 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 146:45 PM CSTF1Jefferson6.523$50,000 to $500,000

April 15 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 156:15 PM CSTF1York0.110$50,000 to $500,000
April 157:00 PM CSTF2Clay11.1100$50,000 to $500,000

April 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 236:55 PM CSTF1Gage9.560$5,000 to $50,000

May 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 134:21 PM CDTF0Gage0.110

May 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 251:40 PM MDTF0Kimball11.510$500 to $5,000

May 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 308:44 PM MDTF0Banner0.130

June 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 106:45 PM CDTF0Brown0.250

June 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 1112:30 AM CDTF1Knox0.240$5,000 to $50,000

June 23 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2311:25 AM MDTF0Keith0.230
June 2312:30 PM MDTF0Perkins0.230

June 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 265:45 PM CDTF1Douglas1.05023$500,000 to $5 million

July 3 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 36:15 PM CDTF1Logan0.330under $50
July 36:15 PM CDTF0Custer0.310under $50
July 37:05 PM CDTF0Lincoln0.320under $50
July 39:00 PM CDTF1Frontier0.530$500 to $5,000

July 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 94:05 PM MDTF0Morrill0.120
July 95:55 PM MDTF0Cheyenne0.120

July 28 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 287:55 PM MDTF1Dawes0.120
July 287:58 PM MDTF2Sioux0.330$500 to $5,000
July 287:58 PM MDTF1Sheridan0.110

July 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 307:45 PM MDTF1Morrill0.330

August 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 159:35 PM MDTF1Keith0.550$5,000 to $50,000

September 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 253:00 PM MDTF0Cherry0.520

Crossed into Nebraska

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Nebraska. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 144:05 PM CSTF2Jewell, KS to NE38.83301$50,000 to $500,000

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.