EF2 tornado, Gothenburg to Callaway, Nebraska, April 20, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF2

Date

April 20, 2007

Touchdown

10:02 PM CDT (03:02 UTC)

Lifted

10:40 PM CDT (03:40 UTC)

On the ground

38 minutes

Path length

18.9 miles (30.4 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

9

Property damage

$2.6 million

Crop damage

$50,000

Counties

Dawson and Custer counties

Touchdown point

40.870, -100.210

Lift-off point

41.131, -100.155

Record number

0704202102-01

Scattered thunderstorms developed just west of the Hastings CWA. One storm entered extreme western Dawson County and produced hail and one tornado. The tornado started south of Gothenburg and moved north. It crossed Interstate 80 where several vehicles and semis were blown off the road with several injuries reported, thankfully, none serious. At one farmstead, the twister killed nearly a dozen head of cattle. The tornado damaged or destroyed many outbuildings and farmhouses. The storm survey team rated this tornado as an EF2 based on damage to a farmhouse (FR12) that lost half of its roof and had many windows blown out (DOD6). This would have had an expected wind speed around 114 mph. Many wood utility poles (ETL) were also broken off at their base or snapped in half (DOD4). This would have an expected wind speed of 120 mph. The tornado had a maximum width around 3/4 mile about 5 miles north of Gothenburg. The storm also produced hail along its path in which the largest was softball in size.

Supercells developed rapidly and became tornadic across southwest Nebraska during the evening of April 20th.

This tornado touched down southwest of Gothenburg and traveled north. It crossed Interstate 80 and passed about 2 miles west of the town of Gothenburg. The twister continued to the north and crossed from Dawson County into Custer County.

This tornado formed southwest of Gothenburg in Dawson County (see Storm Data for Nebraska, South Central for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado) and tracked north before entering Custer County about 21 miles west southwest of Oconto at 9:35 PM CST. The tornado continued for another 7 miles before dissipating 17 miles southwest of Callaway at 9:40 PM CST. In Custer County, the tornado destroyed a barn, chicken house, milk house, an oil bin, and two dryer bins. In addition, it overturned center pivot irrigation systems, snapped and uprooted trees, and broke off power poles. While in Dawson County, the tornado was rated an F2 but was rated an F1 in Custer County.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:45 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:46 UTC and running to 06:07 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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 North Platte radar (KLNX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:03 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.