EF1 tornado, Johnson, Nebraska, June 5, 2008

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

June 5, 2008

Touchdown

6:23 PM CDT (23:23 UTC)

Lifted

6:32 PM CDT (23:32 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

6.5 miles (10.5 km)

Path width

220 yards (201 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Nemaha County

Touchdown point

40.291, -96.058

Lift-off point

40.377, -96.008

Record number

0806051723-01

A warm front and low pressure system over northern Kansas lifted northeast into southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa as an unseasonably strong upper level low pressure system lifted from the Rockies into the northern plains. The front and upper level disturbance caused fast moving thunderstorms, a few severe, to develop during the late morning hours in northeast Nebraska. After a brief lull in the activity through early afternoon, additional thunderstorms developed over eastern Nebraska. The storms developed along 2 lines, one extended north of Columbus while the other stretched from southeast Nebraska into southwest Iowa. Several of the storms turned severe, including one supercell that produced an EF2 tornado in extreme southeast Nebraska. Besides the severe weather, a few of the thunderstorms produced additional areas of heavy rain that fell on saturated soils and caused some already high rivers to flood.

A supercell thunderstorm caused cyclic tornadic activity southwest of Johnson. This tornado caused tree and farm outbuilding damage along its path. As this tornado was dissipating, another one formed to the east. Eyewitnesses stated they saw both tornadoes on the ground at the same time for a while. The supercell thunderstorm then spun up a third tornado a mile southwest of Johnson.

A supercell thunderstorm caused cyclic tornadic activity southwest of Johnson. As one tornado to the west was dissipating this one formed. Eyewitnesses stated they saw both tornadoes on the ground at the same time for a while. This tornado caused damage to several farmsteads southwest of Johnson. A barn was blown down at one farmstead and other farm outbuildings and trees sustained major damage along its track. Two houses also had some roof damage. This supercell thunderstorm then spun up a third tornado a mile southwest of Johnson after this tornado had lifted or dissipated.

A tornado destroyed caused tree and outbuilding damage to a farmstead about a mile southwest of Johnson. This was the 3rd tornado that formed from this supercell thunderstorm that tracked across the county. Even though the tornado lifted before it hit Johnson, wind from the storm knocked down power lines from near Johnson to Brock, which is several miles northeast of Johnson. The downed power lines caused the town of Brock to lose power.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:15 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:47 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:50 UTC and running to 03:38 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 High 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 20:18 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.

Nebraska City (AFK), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:22 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 2008 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

40 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.