Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska

1982 tornadoes in Nebraska

34 tornadoes touched down in Nebraska in 1982, 19 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1981 1983 The whole country in 1982

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1982

April 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 15	6:30 PM CST	F2	Johnson	5.0	70			$50,000 to $500,000
April 15	7:15 PM CST	F0	Otoe	0.5	30			$50 to $500

May 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 4	7:00 PM MDT	F0	Dundy	0.1	20			$50,000 to $500,000

May 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	10:00 PM CDT	F0	Holt	0.1	20			under $50

May 10 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 10	4:00 PM CDT	F2	Merrick	0.3	20	$50,000 to $500,000
May 10	5:03 PM CDT	F1	Hall	1.0	20	$500 to $5,000
May 10	5:05 PM CDT	F2	Howard	0.3	20	$5,000 to $50,000

May 11 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 11	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Nuckolls	0.1	20	under $50
May 11	6:36 PM CDT	F1	Nuckolls	0.1	20	$50 to $500
May 11	6:50 PM CDT	F0	Harlan	0.1	20	under $50
May 11	6:55 PM CDT	F0	Harlan	0.1	20	under $50

May 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	6:25 PM CDT	F2	Colfax	7.0	30			$500 to $5,000

May 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	1:30 PM MDT	F2	Sheridan	0.3	30			$5,000 to $50,000
May 23	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	10			under $50

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	4:30 PM CDT	F2	Hamilton	0.8	30			$50,000 to $500,000

May 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 29	6:52 PM MDT	F1	Scotts Bluff	0.5	20			under $50
May 29	7:32 PM MDT	F1	Morrill	0.3	30			under $50

June 4 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 4	5:38 PM MDT	F0	Dawes	0.1	20	under $50
June 4	6:08 PM MDT	F2	Dawes	0.8	40	$5,000 to $50,000
June 4	6:40 PM MDT	F1	Sheridan	0.5	40	$500 to $5,000
June 4	8:15 PM MDT	F1	Sheridan	0.3	40	$5,000 to $50,000
June 4	8:42 PM MDT	F0	Dawes	0.1	30	under $50

June 14 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 14	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Kearney	0.2	20	under $50
June 14	8:27 PM CDT	F0	Lancaster	0.1	20	under $50
June 14	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Hamilton	10.0	30	$500,000 to $5 million
June 14	9:30 PM CDT	F1	Thayer	0.2	20	$5,000 to $50,000
June 14	10:15 PM CDT	F2	Saline	0.2	50	$50,000 to $500,000

June 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	8:56 PM MDT	F0	Garden	0.1	20			under $50

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	5:05 PM CDT	F1	Hall	0.2	20			$500 to $5,000

June 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 30	5:54 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.1	20			under $50

July 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	4:00 PM MDT	F1	Dundy	0.8	30			$50,000 to $500,000

August 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 23	5:54 PM MDT	F1	Dawes	11.0	40			$5,000 to $50,000
August 23	6:55 PM MDT	F0	Sheridan	0.1	30			under $50

October 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 8	5:00 PM CDT	F1	Sherman	3.0	30			$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Nebraska since 1950 Warnings in force in Nebraska The 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.