Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 1980

F1 tornado, Sheridan County, Nebraska, June 14, 1980

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Sheridan County on June 14, 1980, touching down at 6:40 PM MDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 to $500,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
June 14, 1980
Touchdown
6:40 PM MDT (00:40 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Sheridan County
Touchdown point
42.670, -102.470
Record number
542

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.

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 00:00Z

0.7 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. June 15, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1980-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 12 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 1457 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1980-06-15The 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 69 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 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
12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
256 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1457 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
265 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 12:00Z

11.3 hours after it, 159 km from the path. June 15, 1980.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1980-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 56 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 995 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, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1980-06-15The 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 8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 knots.193958Sfc1 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
56 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
995 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 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 June 14, 1980

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 141:30 PM CDTF1Waupaca, WI5.110$50 to $500
June 142:25 PM CDTF1Oneida, WI1.5503$5,000 to $50,000
June 143:22 PM CDTF0Oneida, WI0.110under $50
June 143:55 PM MDTF1Crook, WY0.110$50 to $500
June 144:15 PM MDTF0Niobrara, WY0.110
June 145:30 PM MDTF1Scotts Bluff, NE9.060$5,000 to $50,000
June 146:30 PM MDTF1Rosebud, MT0.110
June 148:05 PM CDTF1Warren, IA9.330$50,000 to $500,000
June 148:05 PM CDTF1Warren, IA9.330$50,000 to $500,000
June 148:05 PM CDTF0Brown, NE0.120
June 149:10 PM CDTF0Platte, NE0.110
June 1410:23 PM CDTF1Van Buren, IA10.330$5,000 to $50,000

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.