EF1 tornado, Benkelman, Nebraska, March 28, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 28, 2007

Touchdown

8:17 PM MDT (02:17 UTC)

Lifted

8:36 PM MDT (02:36 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

12.0 miles (19.3 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$460,000

County

Dundy County

Touchdown point

40.019, -101.490

Lift-off point

40.157, -101.472

Record number

0703282017-01

A major Spring storm system affecting the Central High Plains produced 16 tornadoes and flash flooding, in addition to severe hail and wind. This was the most tornadoes reported in a single day in the Goodland County Warning Area. The most significant tornado was an EF2 which began in Sherman county and moved north across most of Cheyenne county in Kansas. Four homesteads suffered significant property damage along the 36 mile path length. In addition to the EF2 tornado, there were three EF1 and twelve EF0 tornadoes stretching from Greeley county Kansas into Dundy county Nebraska. No injuries or fatalities occurred.

Tornado moved into county from northern Cheyenne county, Kansas 3 miles SE of Benkelman, and dissipated 8 miles NNE of Benkelman. Total path length of the tornado was 15 miles, with 12 of those miles being in Dundy county. Three homes were affected by the tornado east of Benkelman, with one home north of Hwy 34 losing its roof and suffering significant property damage, including loss of a barn and other outbuildings. Other homes south of Hwy 34, just north of the golf course experienced damage, including loss of a garage and carport at one location, and garage and grain bins destroyed at another. The golf course experienced significant tree damage as well.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:59 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:00 UTC and running to 04:54 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:42 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 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 Goodland radar (KGLD), 82 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

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 66 of them

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.