Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2006
F0 tornado, Mead, Nebraska, March 30, 2006
This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Saunders County on March 30, 2006, touching down at 3:35 PM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.
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
- March 30, 2006
- Touchdown
- 3:35 PM CST (21:35 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- County
- Saunders County
- Touchdown point
- 41.150, -96.500
- Lift-off point
- 41.150, -96.500
- Record number
- 182
What the Weather Service recorded
A weak tornado, estimated at fo strength, tracked around a quarter of a mile, 6 miles south of Mead. The width of the damage path was around 100 yards. The tornado partially ripped the roof off of a large metal storage building tossing some of the debris a 1000 feet or so to the northeast. The tornado also caused some tree damage.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
5 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:30 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:50 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:43 UTC and running to 23:24 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:18 UTC | 11:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 14:43 UTC | 23:24 UTC | Tornado Watch | OAX |
| 14:51 UTC | 15:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 19:31 UTC | 20:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:15 UTC | 21:48 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:30 UTC | 21:50 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
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, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:42 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
9.6 hours before the tornado, 22 km from the path. March 30, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 34 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -342 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 611 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 322 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 310 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.8 K/km
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z
2.4 hours after it, 22 km from the path. March 31, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -103504 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 992 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 120 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.6 K/km
The surface observations
Millard (MLE), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:50 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 140° 13 kt | 996.3 | ||
| 20:30 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 220° 12 kt | 22 | 997.3 | +TSRA |
| 20:32 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 200° 9 kt | 22 | 997.3 | -TSRA |
| 20:50 UTC | 59 | 57.2 | 170° 4 kt | 997.3 | TS | |
| 21:10 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 150° 12 kt | 17 | 996.6 | VCTS |
| 21:30 UTC | 62.6 | 59 | 150° 13 kt | 24 | 995.6 | |
| 22:10 UTC | 51.8 | 50 | 310° 14 kt | 23 | 998 | -VCTSRA |
| 22:12 UTC | 53.6 | 51.8 | 320° 15 kt | 23 | 998 | |
| 22:30 UTC | 51.8 | 50 | 0° 0 kt | 998 | -VCTSRA | |
| 22:50 UTC | 51.8 | 50 | 90° 8 kt | 995.9 | -RA | |
| 23:10 UTC | 51.8 | 50 | 80° 6 kt | 996.6 | ||
| 23:30 UTC | 51.8 | 50 | 90° 5 kt | 997 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 22 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:35 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:10 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Lincoln | Lancaster, NE | AT 70TH AND A STREET. |
| 19:12 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Lincoln | Lancaster, NE | AT 66TH AND O STREET |
| 19:15 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | Lincoln | Lancaster, NE | AT 30TH AND ADAMS. |
| 19:35 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 2 S Davey | Lancaster, NE | |
| 19:53 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Elmwood | Cass, NE | |
| 20:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nnw Palmyra | Otoe, NE | ROOF BLOWN OFF OF MACHINE SHED. ESTIMATED 60-70 MPH. |
| 20:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Omaha | Douglas, NE | TREE DOWN IN PARK IN STANDING BEAR WEST SUBDIVISION. |
| 20:17 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Omaha | Douglas, NE | 159TH AND GILES. 40 TO 50 MPH WINDS. |
| 21:05 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 3 W Lincoln | Lancaster, NE | 50 MPH WINDS ALSO. |
| 21:07 UTC | HAIL 1 | 5 S Bruno | Butler, NE | |
| 21:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Omaha | Douglas, NE | FLAG POLE RATED AT 100 MPH WAS DAMAGED/BENT. LOCATION NEAR 1ST STREET AND BANCROFT...NORTHEAST OF ROSENBLATT STADIUM. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 21:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Palmyra | Otoe, NE | |
| 21:15 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 7 Sw Hooper | Dodge, NE | |
| 21:15 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Lincoln | Lancaster, NE | |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 S Mead | Saunders, NE | IRRIGATION SYSTEM TURNED OVER. BUILDING AND TREES DAMAGED. |
| 21:30 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 2 Nw Blair | Washington, NE | ESTIMATED 60-70 MPH WINDS |
| 21:31 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 3 S Memphis | Saunders, NE | |
| 21:31 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 3 S Memphis | Saunders, NE | |
| 21:35 UTC | TORNADO | 6 S Mead | Saunders, NE | IRRIGATION SYSTEM TURNED OVER. BUILDINGS AND TREES DAMAGED. EVENT TIME CHANGED AND EVENT TYPE CHANGED AFTER SURVEY. LIKELY F0 TORNADO WITH PATH LENGTH ABOUT 0.25 MILES. |
| 21:39 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 3 S Leshara | Saunders, NE | |
| 21:40 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Sw Valley | Saunders, NE | OBSERVED BY PERSONNEL AT THE NWS OFFICE. |
| 21:43 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cedar Creek | Cass, NE | MACHINE SHED AND TREES DAMAGED. FRONT PORCH WAS BLOWN OFF A HOME. |
| 21:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Plattsmouth | Cass, NE | HWY 50 AND 34 TRAFFIC LIGHTS DOWN. TRUCK LIFTED OFF THE GROUND. |
| 21:45 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Elkhorn | Douglas, NE | |
| 21:55 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Ralston | Douglas, NE | 84TH AND L. |
| 21:57 UTC | TORNADO | Omaha | Douglas, NE | PUBLIC REPORT OF A TORNADO AT 72ND AND CENTER. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ene Washington | Washington, NE | BARN BLOWN DOWN. WIND ESTIMATED AT 60 MPH. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE REPORTED IN THE PAPIILLION AREA. SEVERAL TREES DOWN. POWER LINES DOWN. FENCE LINE BLOWN DOWN NEAR 72ND AND CENTENNIAL STREETS. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | WINDOWS BLOWN OUT OF VEHICLES AT MIDLANDS HOSPITAL. |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | |
| 22:00 UTC | TORNADO | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | AN F0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 3/4 MILE SOUTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF 84TH STREET AND CAPEHART ROAD. THE F0 TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR 3 MILES WITH A PATH WIDTH OF 150 YARDS. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF DAMAGE ALONG THE PATH. |
| 22:01 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Bellevue | Sarpy, NE | |
| 22:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Omaha | Douglas, NE | SEMI BLOWN OFF ROADWAY AT THE I80 AND I480 SPLIT. |
| 22:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | TREES REPORTED BLOWN DOWN. |
| 22:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Papillion | Sarpy, NE | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO CHURCH AT 84TH AND GLENWOOD AVENUE. |
| 22:06 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Omaha | Douglas, NE | CARS HAD SOME WINDOWS BLOWN OUT IN PARKING STRUCTURE AT EPPLEY AIRFIELD. |
| 22:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Omaha | Douglas, NE | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE REPORTED AT 44TH AND I STREET TO A BUILDING. |
| 00:00 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 306 | 1 Nw Valley | Douglas, NE | STORM TOTAL RAINFALL...2.68 INCHES THIS AFTERNOON...0.38 INCHES THIS MORNING. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of March 30, 2006
25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 30 | 1:25 PM CST | F0 | Reno, KS | 3.0 | 50 | $80,000 | ||
| March 30 | 2:13 PM CST | F1 | Marion, KS | 6.0 | 75 | 1 | $70,000 | |
| March 30 | 2:18 PM CST | F0 | Stephens, OK | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| March 30 | 2:23 PM CST | F0 | Butler, NE | 0.5 | 440 | |||
| March 30 | 2:29 PM CST | F0 | Colfax, NE | 0.5 | 440 | |||
| March 30 | 3:50 PM CST | F0 | Wilson, KS | 2.5 | 50 | |||
| March 30 | 3:55 PM CST | F0 | Woodbury, IA | 0.5 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| March 30 | 4:00 PM CST | F0 | Sarpy, NE | 3.0 | 150 | |||
| March 30 | 4:04 PM CST | F1 | Brown, KS | 3.0 | 100 | $350,000 | ||
| March 30 | 4:06 PM CST | F2 | Montgomery, KS | 16.0 | 125 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| March 30 | 5:35 PM CST | F1 | Wilson, KS | 10.0 | 75 | $20,000 | ||
| March 30 | 5:57 PM CST | F0 | Union, IA | 0.2 | 30 | $40,000 | ||
| March 30 | 6:00 PM CST | F0 | Woodson, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 30 | 6:00 PM CST | F0 | Union, IA | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| March 30 | 6:03 PM CST | F0 | Allen, KS | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| March 30 | 6:04 PM CST | F0 | Dallas, IA | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| March 30 | 7:10 PM CST | F2 | Andrew, MO | 5.0 | 800 | 8 | $800,000 | |
| March 30 | 7:15 PM CST | F0 | Cooke, TX | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| March 30 | 8:10 PM CST | F0 | Harrison, MO | 1.0 | 50 | |||
| March 30 | 8:20 PM CST | F0 | Johnson, MO | 9.0 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| March 30 | 8:28 PM CST | F1 | Pettis, MO | 13.6 | 75 | 1 | $450,000 | |
| March 30 | 8:30 PM CST | F0 | Grayson, TX | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| March 30 | 8:36 PM CST | F0 | Grayson, TX | 0.1 | 10 | $10,000 | ||
| March 30 | 10:55 PM CST | F1 | Pike, IL | 4.5 | 200 | |||
| March 30 | 11:10 PM CST | F1 | Pike, IL | 2.7 | 250 |
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.