Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2004

F0 tornado, Alvo to Elmwood, Nebraska, June 13, 2004

From Alvo to Elmwood, this F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Cass County on June 13, 2004, touching down at 5:40 PM CDT and reaching 200 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, 2004
Touchdown
5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cass County
Touchdown point
40.800, -96.280
Lift-off point
40.780, -96.280
Record number
236

What the Weather Service recorded

A brief tornado touched down and overturned at trailer near Alvo. This brief touchdown was a mile or two away from another weak tornado that was on the ground for a mile or so.

A multiple vortex tornado did some tree damage west of Alvo. It was a mile or two away from another tornado that touched down briefly to the northeast.

The final tornado reported with this supercell thunderstorm damaged some trees and farm outbuildings south of Elmwood. In total 5 tornadoes were reported from this supercell that developed in Butler county and tracked into Cass and Otoe counties. The reported tornadoes were in Lancaster and Cass counties.

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

The warnings

31 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:09 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:09 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningOAX
23:00 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 59 km from the path. June 13, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2004-06-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -67879, lifted condensation level 1481 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2004-06-13The 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 17 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-67879 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1481 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 59 km from the path. June 14, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2004-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 84 joules per kilogram, CIN -158, lifted condensation level 2073 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2004-06-14The 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 118 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-158 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1443 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2073 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
118 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Nebraska City (AFK), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:50 UTC80.6680° 0 kt1009.8
21:12 UTC82.469.8180° 3 kt1009.5
21:51 UTC80.669.80° 0 kt1009.1
22:13 UTC80.671.620° 9 kt1009.5
22:52 UTC78.869.890° 6 kt1008.8
23:31 UTC80.671.610° 10 kt1009.1
00:10 UTC78.869.850° 6 kt1008.8
00:31 UTC7766.260° 6 kt1008.8

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

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:38 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:25 UTCHAIL 1.754 Sw WestonSaunders, NE
21:55 UTCHAIL 1CerescoSaunders, NE
22:02 UTCHAIL 1.5DaveyLancaster, NE
22:08 UTCTORNADO2 Nne WaverlyLancaster, NETWO NORTH NORTHEAST OF WAVERLY ON THE GROUND, AND THEN UP INTO THE CLOUDS.
22:09 UTCTORNADO2 W RaymondLancaster, NEPOWER LINES DOWN EAST OF 70TH STREET AND RAYMOND ROAD INTERSECTIONS. TREES DOWN ALSO AT SAME LOCATION.
22:14 UTCTORNADO4 Sw WaverlyLancaster, NE
22:17 UTCTORNADO3 Sw GreenwoodLancaster, NERAIN WRAPPED TORNADO ON THE GROUND.
22:23 UTCHAIL 0.75WaverlyLancaster, NE
22:25 UTCHAIL 1.752 Se GreenwoodCass, NE
22:25 UTCTORNADO1 E WaverlyLancaster, NETORNADO ON THE GROUND ALONG BLUFF RD SW OF WAVERLY ABOUT 4 MILES.
22:25 UTCTORNADO4 Sw WaverlyLancaster, NE3 SEPERATE TORNADO TOUCH DOWNS BETWEN 112TH AND 98TH STREETS, BETWEEN ALVO RD AND BLUFF RD.4SW OF WAVERLY TO 3 SW OF WAVERLY.
22:27 UTCTORNADO2 Sw AshlandSaunders, NE
22:30 UTCTORNADO2 W AlvoCass, NEMULTIPLE VORTEX TORNADO.
22:42 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 W ElmwoodCass, NEFUNNEL AT LEAST 3/4 OF THE WAY TO THE GROUND.
23:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 606 Wnw AvocaCass, NECROP DAMAGE
23:00 UTCHAIL 0.886 Wnw AvocaCass, NE

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 13, 2004

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 132:05 PM EDTF0Montcalm, MI0.110$2,000
June 132:47 PM CDTF1Benton, TN0.110
June 133:50 PM EDTF0Bay, MI3.0100$10,000
June 136:00 PM EDTF1Huron, MI2.0200$30,000
June 135:08 PM CDTF0Lancaster, NE0.2100
June 135:08 PM CDTF0Lancaster, NE2.0240
June 135:28 PM CDTF0Cass, NE0.2150
June 136:28 PM EDTF1Henry, OH4.050$70,000
June 135:30 PM CDTF0Cass, NE1.0150
June 136:30 PM EDTF1Montmorency, MI7.250$160,000
June 137:49 PM CDTF0Nodaway, MO0.550
June 1312:15 AM EDTF1Licking, OH2.075$10,000

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.