EF3 tornado, Moorefield to Brady, 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 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. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 20, 2007

Touchdown

9:16 PM CDT (02:16 UTC)

Lifted

9:46 PM CDT (02:46 UTC)

On the ground

30 minutes

Path length

15.7 miles (25.3 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$420,000

Counties

Frontier and Lincoln counties

Touchdown point

40.639, -100.276

Lift-off point

40.828, -100.320

Record number

0704202016-01

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

This tornado formed 4 miles southeast of Moorefield and tracked north for 4 miles before exiting Frontier County about 3 miles east northeast of Moorefield at 825 PM CST. The tornado continued into Lincoln County for another 13 miles before dissipating at 846 PM CST. As it touched down in Frontier County, it immediately hit a farmstead and took off the roof and attached garage on the house, collapsed a grain bin and carried a horse trailer across the road about 50 yards. The tornado continued north through fields overturning 3 pivot irrigation systems and several power poles before destroying a metal building on another farmstead. The tornado continued north across Highway 23 and traveled just west of one farmstead...breaking windows in the home and destroying a grain bin...and then east of another farmstead where it destroyed one small shed, took part of the roof off a hay barn, scattered irrigation pipe, destroyed a wind mill, and pulled a fence line out of the ground. Numerous trees were broken and uprooted along the path of the tornado. In Lincoln County, it continued to produce extensive damage at 2 more farmsteads. At one of these farmsteads, two adults were injured as their house was destroyed. The tornado was rated F2 in Frontier County and F3 in Lincoln County. The average path width in Frontier County was 220 yards.

This tornado formed 4 miles southeast of Moorefield in Frontier County and entered Lincoln County about 23 miles south southeast of Brady at 8:25 PM CST. The tornadic supercell continued for another 12 miles before dissipating 14 miles south of Brady at 8:46 PM CST. In addition to power poles and trees being snapped off, the tornado hit 2 farmsteads. At the first farmstead, it completely destroyed one large storage building and took off the roof and northeast exterior wall of the home. At the farmstead across the road, the tornado completely destroyed an unanchored farm house and 3 storage sheds. The 2 occupants in the home were on the main floor of the home when the tornado hit and were carried with the debris 50 feet. The tornado was rated F2 in Frontier County and F3 in Lincoln County.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:45 UTC and running to 06:40 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), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:16 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.