Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 1980

F2 tornado, Sheridan County, Nebraska, August 10, 1980

This F2 tornado ran 11.3 miles across Sheridan County on August 10, 1980, touching down at 6:30 PM MDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
August 10, 1980
Touchdown
6:30 PM MDT (00:30 UTC)
Path length
11.3 miles (18.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Sheridan County
Touchdown point
42.230, -102.680
Lift-off point
42.070, -102.650
Record number
752

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

0.5 hours before the tornado, 206 km from the path. August 11, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1980-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1505 joules per kilogram, CIN -123, lifted condensation level 1549 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1980-08-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1505 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-123 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2263 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
6.5
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 206 km from the path. August 11, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1980-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -8422, lifted condensation level 1348 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1980-08-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -59 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8422 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1348 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1980 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 10, 1980

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 105:00 AM CDTF2Nueces, TX2.540$500,000 to $5 million
August 109:30 AM CDTF1Victoria, TX0.830$5,000 to $50,000
August 109:57 AM CDTF2Bexar, TX12.21002$50,000 to $500,000
August 1010:00 AM CDTF2Jim Wells, TX2.0401$50,000 to $500,000
August 1010:50 AM CDTF1Bexar, TX0.330$5,000 to $50,000
August 101:14 PM CDTF1Caldwell, TX14.880$50,000 to $500,000
August 102:00 PM CDTF2Bastrop, TX18.877
August 102:15 PM CDTF0Bastrop, TX11.750
August 102:30 PM CDTF0Bastrop, TX11.127$500 to $5,000
August 102:40 PM CDTF2Travis, TX5.41504$50 million to $500 million
August 103:25 PM CDTF0Travis, TX30.750$50,000 to $500,000
August 105:02 PM CDTF2Hays, TX47.720020$5 million to $50 million
August 105:30 PM CDTF0Frio, TX2.030$5,000 to $50,000
August 105:45 PM CDTF0Frio, TX1.530$500 to $5,000
August 106:30 PM CDTF1Nueces, TX1.030$5,000 to $50,000
August 107:30 PM CDTF1San Patricio, TX2.030$50,000 to $500,000
August 107:35 PM CDTF0Bexar, TX0.833
August 107:50 PM CDTF1Hidalgo, TX1.050$50,000 to $500,000
August 108:30 PM CDTF1Medina, TX1.040$5,000 to $50,000
August 1010:35 PM CDTF1Hall, NE0.120$50,000 to $500,000

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.