Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2002
F0 tornado, Shelton, Nebraska, July 24, 2002
This F0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Buffalo County on July 24, 2002, touching down at 9:43 PM CDT and reaching 35 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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
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.
The record
- Rating
- F0
- Date
- July 24, 2002
- Touchdown
- 9:43 PM CDT (02:43 UTC)
- Path length
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
- Path width
- 35 yards (32 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Buffalo County
- Touchdown point
- 40.850, -98.650
- Lift-off point
- 40.820, -98.680
- Record number
- 794
What the Weather Service recorded
An ominous looking supercell dived southeast from around Ord to southwest of Hastings spawning tornadoes and damaging hail along its path. The structure of the severe thunderstorm was easily visible from many miles away. After producing large hail in northwest Valley county, a tornado was spotted by a volunteer fireman north of Arcadia. No damaged occurred. As the storm drove southeast, hail to the size of baseballs was reported from near Ravenna to south of Shelton. To the northeast of Shelton, another tornado was reported to have lasted about four minutes. No property damage was noted. Wind driven large hail did hammer much of Shelton and the surrounding areas. Windows were blown out, cars severely damaged and many roofs were deemed lost. Some crops in the area were leveled as damage totaled well into the millions. The storm continued to pound western Adams and eastern Kearney county with damaging hail and wind before falling apart in Franklin county around midnight.
An off-duty NWS employee and many other storm spotters witnessed the tornado north of Shelton. No significant damage was reported from the tornado itself as it bounced along the ground.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jul 24, 3:29 PM CDT, 6 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 3:29 PM CDT, 6 hours 14 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 329 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002 ...MAIN FOCUS IS THUNDERSTORM CHANCES OVER NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AND PROSPECTS FOR SEVERE WX TONIGHT... 12Z MORNING UPPER AIR ANALYSIS AND WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING LOW AMPLITUDE LARGE SCALE PATTERN OVER THE CONUS. UPPER RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA YIELDING MODEST SUMMERTIME W/NW FLOW INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. LOW TO MID LEVEL RIDGE CONTINUES TO SHIFT EASTWARD...WITH 700MB/850MB MOIST AXIS FROM TX/OK THROUGH WESTERN SECTIONS OF KS AND NEB. LATEST AFTERNOON SUBJECTIVE SURFACE ANALYSIS FEATURING LOW PRESSURE ADVANCING EASTWARD ACROSS CNTRL SD...WITH ASSOCIATED WARM FRONTAL STRUCTURE EXTENDING E/SE THROUGH EASTERN SD INTO NW IA. TROUGH/WIND SHIFT POSITIONED FROM THE SFC LOW SOUTHWARD INTO WESTERN NEB. AXIS OF 65F SFC DEWPOINTS LOCATED AHEAD OF THE TROUGH...AIDED BY MODEST 5-10F SFC DEWPOINT RISES OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS. SURFACE LOW TO CONTINUE TO TRACK FROM CENTRAL SD INTO NORTHEAST NEB TONIGHT...WITH ACCOMPANYING LOW LEVEL TROUGH EXTENDING BACK TOWARD WESTERN NEB. OPERATIONAL ETA CONFINES CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT TO NORTHEAST NEB LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...WITH LATEST NCEP/FSL RUC20 FOLLOWING SUIT. HOWEVER...12Z ETA KAIN-FRITSCH ALREADY DEVELOPS CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ALONG THE TROUGH BY 21Z IN NORTH CENTRAL NEB... WITH MORE EXPANSIVE DEVELOPMENT SOUTHWARD INTO CENTRAL AND SCNTRL NEB BY 00Z. WOULD EXPECT REALITY TO BE SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN THESE SOLUTIONS. OVERALL...ORIENTATION OF THICKNESSES AND ETA-BASED CORFIDI VECTORS SUGGEST A GENERAL SSEWRD PROPOGATIONAL COMPONENT TO EVENING THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX OVER NCNTRL/NE NEB. ALTHOUGH BULK OF ACTIVITY SHOULD BE CONFINED TO THE N/NE SECTIONS OF CWA...SOME ISOLATED PULSE-TYPE DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE S/SW DOWN THE TROUGH THROUGH THE WESTERN NEB CWA -- HOWEVER INCREASINGLY HIGHER CINH/LFCS SHOULD GREATLY LIMIT S/SW EXTENT OF DEVELOPMENT. SEVERE STORMS ARE A POSSIBILITY TONIGHT -- ESPECIALLY IN THE NE PORTION OF THE CWA -- GIVEN LIKELY MCS PROPAGATION IN AMBIENT ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERIZED BY AMPLE DEEP LAYER SHEAR / 40-50 KNOTS 0-6KM / FOR STORM ORGANIZATION AND MODERATE INSTABILITY. OBJECTIVELY DERIVED SFC BASED CAPES RUNNING AROUND 3000 J/KG THIS AFTERNOON... WITH 100MB MIXED LAYER CAPES AROUND 1500 J/KG. DAMAGING WINDS APPEAR TO BE MAIN THREAT GIVEN DEEP LAYER SHEAR...30-50 KNOT MID LEVEL FLOW...AND INVERTED-V CHARACTERISTICS. IN SPITE OF INSTABILITY AND POTENTIAL FOR UPDRAFT ROTATION GIVEN DEEP LAYER SHEAR...RELATIVELY HIGH FREEZING/WET-BULB ZERO LEVELS WILL TEND TO LIMIT LARGE HAIL THREAT. HIGH LCLS/LFCS SUGGEST TORNADIC POTENTIAL AT A MINIMUM IN CWA. THURSDAY SHOULD BE FAIRLY QUIET DURING THE DAY AS THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX MOVES INTO IA...AND POSSIBLY NORTHERN MO DURING THE MORNING. HOWEVER...REMNANT OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM MCS MAY FIGURE INTO THE MIX. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES A FEW DEGREES WARMER ON THURSDAY AS UPPER RIDGE SHIFTS EASTWARD AND BEGINS TO DAMPEN -- HIGH TEMPS LIKELY APPROACHING 95 IN MUCH OF THE NEB CWA...WITH A FEW 100 DEGREE READINGS POSSIBLE IN SOUTHERN CWA. MCS THEN LOOKS TO DEVELOP IN WESTERN NEB THURSDAY NIGHT AS ETA PROGGED 50KT LOW LEVEL JET GETS ACTIVE FROM WESTERN KS INTO SOUTHWEST NEB. ACTIVITY WOULD SEEMINGLY PRESS EASTWARD ACROSS THE CWA OVERNIGHT PER CORFIDI VECTORS. PLENTIFUL LOW TO MID LEVEL FRONTOGENESIS AND IMPRESSIVE COUPLED UPPER JET STRUCTURE OVERSPREADING THE CENTRAL PLAINS THURSDAY NIGHT WILL ADD INTO THE MIX AS WELL. WITH SIMILAR SET-UP IN PLACE INTO FRI/SAT...WILL REINTRODUCE MAINLY NIGHTTIME TSRA CHANCES. IN THE OUTER PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST...LATEST EUROPEAN AND 00Z GFS INDICATE LITTLE CHANGE IN BROAD SCALE PATTERN THROUGH THE WEEKEND... HOWEVER THERE SOME HINTS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA TROUGH DEVELOPMENT AND CORRESPONDING FLOW AMPLIFICATION BY THE EARLY TO MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WEEK. OPERATIONAL GFS POSITIONING OF UPPER TROUGH OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES BY LATE WEEKEND RATHER DEBATABLE GIVEN DEGREE OF VARIABILITY AMONGST GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS. ALTHOUGH PRECIPITATION POSSIBLE SOMETIME IN LATE WEEKEND/EARLY NEXT WEEK TIME FRAME... GENERAL DRY FORECAST WILL BE MAINTAINED ATTM UNTIL DETAILS BETTER AVAIL THEMSELVES. STATUS QUO FOR OUTER PERIOD TEMPS. .GID...NONE GUYER
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 24, 5:15 PM CDT, 4 hours 28 minutes before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-251200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 515 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA... AREAS GENERALLY NORTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM ELWOOD TO SUPERIOR ARE AT A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 600 PM. THE PRIMARY HAZARD WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS TO 70 MPH...WITH ISOLATED LARGE HAIL UP TO AN INCH IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE. IN ADDITION...AN ISOLATED TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT...PRIMARILY NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS FROM AROUND ONEILL SOUTHWEST TO BURWELL WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY AS THEY MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO THE REGION. DURING THE EVENING...THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP INTO A BOW ECHO...GIVING A GREATER THREAT FOR WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WINDS... ESPECIALLY NORTH AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 281 AND I-80. SPOTTER GROUPS...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THEIR LOCAL MEDIA FOR LATER UPDATED FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS. GURNEY
Local storm report, Jul 24, 7:08 PM CDT, 2 hours 35 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
708 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0705 PM 12 NW ORD NE 1.75 INCH HAIL
07/24/02 VALLEY REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
07Local storm report, Jul 24, 7:28 PM CDT, 2 hours 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
728 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0725 PM 9 N ARCADIA NE TORNADO
07/24/02 VALLEY BRIEF TOUCHDOWN.
REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
07Local storm report, Jul 24, 9:01 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
901 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0855 PM ROCKVILLE NE 1.75 INCH HAIL
07/24/02 SHERMAN REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
07The 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.
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z
2.7 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. July 25, 2002.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 793 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1916 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3368 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 7 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 43 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 104 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 9.9 K/km
The surface observations
Kearney Municipal (EAR), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:42 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 24, 2002
6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.