Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska

1996 tornadoes in Nebraska

60 tornadoes touched down in Nebraska in 1996, 42 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1995 1997 The whole country in 1996

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 1996

May 8 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 8	3:00 PM MDT	F0	Scotts Bluff	0.3	50
May 8	8:44 PM CDT	F2	Gage	9.5	880	15	$12 million
May 8	9:07 PM CDT	F1	Thayer	7.0	150		$2.0 million
May 8	9:30 PM CDT	F1	Jefferson	1.5	100		$250,000
May 8	10:00 PM CDT	F1	Jefferson	2.5	100		$350,000

May 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	10:08 PM MDT	F0	Grant	0.1	20			$10,000

May 22 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 22	6:50 PM MDT	F0	Dundy	1.0	50
May 22	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Seward	0.1	10	$1,000
May 22	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Lancaster	0.1	10
May 22	11:15 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.2	10
May 22	11:20 PM CDT	F0	Nuckolls	0.2	10

May 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 30	6:06 PM MDT	F1	Banner	1.0	100			$30,000

June 5 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 5	9:25 PM MDT	F1	Keith	2.0	200	$250,000
June 5	9:37 PM MDT	F0	Box Butte	0.2	50
June 5	9:40 PM MDT	F1	Morrill	0.5	100	$20,000
June 5	10:10 PM MDT	F0	Morrill	0.4	50
June 5	10:20 PM MDT	F0	Perkins	0.1	20

June 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	3:52 PM MDT	F0	Sheridan	1.5	50
June 18	4:20 PM MDT	F0	Sheridan	1.0	50

June 19 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 19	2:28 PM CDT	F2	Holt	3.0	350	$1.0 million
June 19	3:10 PM CDT	F1	Holt	3.0	200	$250,000
June 19	3:30 PM CDT	F0	Knox	0.5	20
June 19	3:40 PM CDT	F0	Antelope	6.0	20	$30,000

June 20 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 20	6:05 PM CDT	F1	Cuming	0.3	30	$40,000
June 20	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Stanton	0.1	30	$30,000
June 20	6:40 PM CDT	F0	Colfax	0.1	20	$20,000
June 20	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Dodge	0.5	60	$300,000
June 20	9:14 PM CDT	F0	Colfax	0.1	10
June 20	9:30 PM CDT	F1	Washington	0.3	100	$300,000
June 20	9:45 PM CDT	F1	Dodge	3.0	30	$50,000
June 20	10:40 PM CDT	F0	Saunders	0.1	10
June 20	11:10 PM CDT	F1	Butler	0.3	30	$150,000
June 20	11:30 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.1	20	$10,000

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	3:30 PM CDT	F0	Cass	0.2	10

July 1 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 1	6:52 PM CDT	F0	Pierce	0.1	10			$120,000
July 1	7:05 PM CDT	F0	Pierce	0.1	10			$3,000

July 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	7:15 AM CDT	F0	Richardson	0.5	30			$10,000

July 7 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 7	4:05 PM MDT	F0	Cherry	0.1	20
July 7	4:30 PM MDT	F0	Cherry	0.1	20
July 7	8:12 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	20
July 7	8:50 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	20
July 7	9:14 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	20
July 7	9:21 PM CDT	F0	Franklin	0.3	20

July 16 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 16	6:17 PM CDT	F0	Nance	0.2	20
July 16	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Platte	2.0	30	$4,000
July 16	11:00 PM CDT	F0	Dakota	3.0	100	$50,000

July 25 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 25	3:13 PM MDT	F0	Box Butte	1.0	100
July 25	4:28 PM MDT	F0	Scotts Bluff	8.0	150
July 25	5:06 PM MDT	F0	Deuel	0.1	20

August 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 2	7:56 PM MDT	F0	Box Butte	10.0	50
August 2	8:10 PM MDT	F0	Morrill	50.0	50

August 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 4	8:00 PM CDT	F0	Hall	0.1	20
August 4	8:55 PM MDT	F1	Dundy	0.5	20

August 10 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 10	8:25 PM CDT	F2	Red Willow	6.0	300	$750,000
August 10	8:25 PM CDT	F0	Red Willow	0.2	50
August 10	8:30 PM CDT	F1	Red Willow	0.3	100

September 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 19	2:00 PM CDT	F0	Sherman	0.4	15			$40,000

October 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
October 26	8:23 AM CDT	F1	Holt	0.8	50	1	$10,000
October 26	8:50 AM CDT	F1	Holt	1.0	75	3	$150,000
October 26	10:00 AM CDT	F0	Knox	0.2	10

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.