Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2001

F0 tornado, Gilead, Nebraska, June 13, 2001

This F0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Thayer County on June 13, 2001, touching down at 10:45 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
June 13, 2001
Touchdown
10:45 PM CDT (03:45 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Thayer County
Touchdown point
40.170, -97.470
Lift-off point
40.200, -97.470
Record number
1068

What the Weather Service recorded

A wild night of weather struck south-central Nebraska with high winds, hail and tornadoes. Of the five tornadoes confirmed, the most damaging one occurred southeast of Hubbell. One farmstead sustained around one-half million dollars in damage, including losing several outbuildings, grain bins, and an exterior wall on the home. The other tornadoes were quite brief, but one did manage to produce minor damage on a farm in eastern Furnas county.Another area of widespread destruction occurred with straight-line winds in extreme southern Clay and northern Nuckolls counties. Winds estimated at 90 mph tore through grain bins, outbuildings, and trees. Major damage was had at a turkey farm near Lawrence. The damage extended east along State Highway 4 across northern Nuckolls county to the tune of over one million dollars. There were dozens of other reports of large hail across south-central Nebraska, which caused significant crop damage in some locations.

A brief tornado occurred north of Gilead.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:45 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:23 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
00:37 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningGID
00:59 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
01:39 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningGID
02:11 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WarningGID
02:58 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
03:04 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningGID
03:43 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
03:45 UTC04:15 UTCTornado WarningGID

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 01:05 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 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.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

3.8 hours before the tornado, 157 km from the path. June 14, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2001-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4371 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 1290 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2001-06-14The 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 151 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
4371 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
5078 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1290 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.5
Supercell composite
17.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

8.2 hours after it, 157 km from the path. June 14, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2001-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 301 joules per kilogram, CIN -278, lifted condensation level 1071 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2001-06-14The 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 137 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 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
301 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-278 J/kg
Surface CAPE
55 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1071 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
166 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Beatrice Municip (BIE), 62 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
02:15 UTC82.471.6150° 17 kt25999
02:32 UTC82.471.6160° 19 kt24999.3
02:54 UTC82.471.6160° 22 kt31998.6
03:12 UTC82.471.6160° 16 kt29998.6
03:37 UTC82.469.8160° 22 kt28999.3
03:52 UTC82.469.8150° 22 kt31998.6
04:13 UTC80.669.8150° 22 kt29998.3
04:34 UTC80.669.8150° 20 kt32997.6
04:52 UTC80.669.8160° 22 kt34996.6

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 13, 2001

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 139:07 AM CDTF0Jefferson Parish, LA0.125$10,000
June 132:22 PM EDTF0Richland, SC0.140
June 134:50 PM CDTF0Jones, MS0.3100
June 135:11 PM CDTF0Hamlin, SD0.125
June 135:40 PM CDTF0Grant, MN0.525
June 136:12 PM CDTF0Big Stone, MN0.525
June 136:51 PM CDTF0Cuming, NE0.530
June 136:53 PM CDTF3Todd, MN12.01003$5.0 million
June 136:59 PM CDTF0Grant, MN0.525
June 137:00 PM CDTF0Douglas, MN0.125
June 137:12 PM CDTF0Lincoln, MN0.150
June 137:12 PM CDTF0Lincoln, MN0.150
June 137:18 PM CDTF1Lincoln, MN0.5100$50,000
June 137:44 PM CDTF0Todd, MN0.125
June 137:45 PM CDTF4Seward, NE8.04002$1.0 million
June 138:00 PM CDTF2Morrison, MN4.050$200,000
June 138:10 PM CDTF2Crow Wing, MN5.0880
June 138:20 PM CDTF0Lincoln, MN0.150
June 138:32 PM CDTF0Todd, MN0.125
June 138:42 PM CDTF0Lancaster, NE0.130
June 138:46 PM CDTF1Lincoln, MN2.0100$2,000
June 138:46 PM CDTF1Republic, KS8.0300$120,000
June 138:52 PM CDTF0Osceola, IA0.150
June 138:55 PM CDTF0Saunders, NE0.130
June 138:58 PM CDTF0Republic, KS5.0100$40,000
June 138:58 PM CDTF0Hodgeman, KS0.130
June 139:00 PM CDTF0Hodgeman, KS2.050
June 139:05 PM CDTF1Thayer, NE3.0150$500,000
June 139:12 PM CDTF0Hodgeman, KS7.0250
June 139:20 PM CDTF1O'Brien, IA7.0200$200,000
June 139:20 PM CDTF0Monona, IA0.130
June 139:25 PM CDTF0Furnas, NE0.530$10,000
June 139:25 PM CDTF0Thayer, NE0.520
June 139:28 PM CDTF0Pawnee, KS0.130
June 139:31 PM CDTF0Fillmore, NE0.220
June 139:45 PM CDTF0Rush, KS9.0150
June 1310:00 PM CDTF0Hodgeman, KS2.5150
June 1310:10 PM CDTF0Ida, IA0.150
June 1310:18 PM CDTF0Cherokee, IA0.150

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.