F2 tornado, Darr to Oconto, Nebraska, October 31, 2000

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.

Rating

F2

Date

October 31, 2000

Touchdown

6:12 PM CST (00:12 UTC)

Path length

23.0 miles (37.0 km)

Path width

220 yards (201 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$120,000

Counties

Dawson and Custer counties

Touchdown point

40.850, -99.850

Lift-off point

41.180, -99.780

Record number

545

In a continuation of late season severe weather, a Halloween tornado moved across central and northern Dawson county and crossed into southern Custer county. The tornado, which was spawned from a large supercell thunderstorm, was on the ground in Dawson county for about 14 miles and had a maximum width of 200 yards.Most of the tornadoes path was over open country, but one farmstead in northern Dawson county did receive extensive damage. Part of the roof of the house was blown away and a barn was flattened. Pivots and other outbuildings along the tornadoes path were also damaged. Prior to the tornado itself, the same thunderstorm produced hail which covered the ground white just east of Cozad. Minor street flooding was reported in Cozad as well.

The tornado moved out of Dawson county into south central Custer county 7 miles south southwest of Oconto. The tornado traveled across open rangeland until destroying a modular home 1 mile south of Oconto. The tornado then moved directly through the small community of Oconto producing extensive damage. Every building along main street was either damaged or destroyed. A community center was destroyed while 19 children and 4 adults were in the basement. Over half the homes in the small town suffered minor to major damage. The community was declared a disaster areas by the governor. The tornado knocked down a power line 2 miles north of Oconto before lifting.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

32 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:40 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.