EF0 tornado, Hastings, Nebraska, August 22, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

August 22, 2007

Touchdown

5:10 PM CDT (22:10 UTC)

Lifted

5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Adams County

Touchdown point

40.580, -98.380

Lift-off point

40.569, -98.345

Record number

0708221610-01

A wild afternoon and early evening of high winds, hail, flooding and even a brief tornado was had over south central Nebraska. The tornado occurred on the east side of Hastings. This EF0 tornado traveled on the ground for about 1.5 miles and lifted around the Hastings Motorsports Track just southeast of town. Damage was minor. Elsewhere in Hastings, tree damage was excessive due to straight line winds near 70 mph. The hardest hit area was the eastern half of town where large trees were toppled and some damage was had to homes and other buildings. Hastings was the beginning of a corridor of high winds, which extended east along U.S. Highway 6 across Clay County and into Fillmore County. Another hard hit area was from Harvard to Saronville. A 125-foot tall grain bin was completely destroyed at a grain storage facility near Saronville. Ironically, the bin had just been completed. Over $100,000 in electrical equipment for the facility was lost as well. Winds were estimated at 80 mph and were enough to pull the anchor bolts out of the cement foundation. Further east, the town of Fairmont in Fillmore County was pounded as well. The roof was torn from the local car wash and tree damage was extensive. Power was lost to many parts of Fillmore County, including the Fillmore Central Middle School where classes were cancelled the next day. In rural areas, pivots were overturned, outbuildings damaged and the corn crop was trampled by the wind. Damage to corn and soybeans is hard to assess, but will likely reach several million dollars. Heavy rain of 2 to 5 inches resulted in water issues around the area as well. Many streets in Hastings were flooded and there were numerous road closures on county roads across Adams and Clay counties. There were sporadic reports of large hail and high winds elsewhere in south central Nebraska that afternoon and evening. Finally, in far northern Valley County near the Garfield County line, heavy rain caused flash flooding to occur on Highway 11.

A brief tornado began on the east side of Hastings and traveled to the southeast for 1 to 2 miles. Damage was minimal and winds were estimated at 75 mph. The tornado was rated an EF0.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:05 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:24 UTC and running to 01:10 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 20:01 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.

Hastings (HSI), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:07 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

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.