EF2 tornado, Alfalpha Siding to Shelton, Nebraska, May 29, 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 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

May 29, 2008

Touchdown

5:26 PM CDT (22:26 UTC)

Lifted

6:02 PM CDT (23:02 UTC)

On the ground

36 minutes

Path length

21.8 miles (35.0 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$11 million

Crop damage

$500,000

County

Buffalo County

Touchdown point

40.715, -99.120

Lift-off point

40.806, -98.722

Record number

0805291626-01

A significant severe weather outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and evening of May 29th. Several tornadoes were reported from near Elwood to north of York. Two tornadoes caused damage in the city of Kearney and one occurred just to the south of town. Another tornado damaged homes and power poles near Aurora. Another tornado started in north-central Kansas and entered south-central Nebraska near Hubbell. Very strong winds moved down a portion of Interstate 80 and pushed cars and trucks off of the roadway near Aurora. Other areas of south-central Nebraska received heavy rains and hail. Hail to the size of baseballs was reported near Arapahoe in Furnas County. These storms also produce a lot of rainfall over areas that had fairly wet ground. Several areas of flooding were noted in the Platte and Republican River valleys.

This tornado started west of Kearney and moved east. Eye witness reports indicate this was a multi-vortex tornado that skipped along US Highway 30 through Kearney and ended near Shelton. Near the start of this twister, scores of empty coal train cars were blown over. The tornado did affect a large part of the central area of Kearney. A report from the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department���s wind system showed 100 mph winds as it passed through the downtown area. There were hundreds of trees and literally thousands of tree limbs that crashed into homes, businesses, and vehicles. There was some minor siding and roof damage to structures caused by the winds. These winds also knocked down power lines and signs and displaced several empty grain bins. Tree damage was noted in the villages of Gibbon and Shelton.

This tornado was the most organized tornado that hit the city of Kearney this night and was the most persistent. It appeared to stay on the ground for the majority of its 22 mile path in Buffalo County. The tornado did exit Buffalo County and entered Hall County. The tornado started in the northwest part of the city of Kearney where it damaged an apartment complex. It took the roof off of part of the complex, blew out a wall and stacked a couple of cars in the parking lot. The tornado then moved east, damaging trees in Harmon Park and took a part of the roof off a building near the hospital. At the Buffalo County Fairgrounds, it caused a portion of the Expo Center building to collapse. Two people in this building were shook up but not injured. The tornado then continued east to the Kearney Airport where it destroyed a hanger and the cooperate jet housed inside. The tornado then continued on east and northeast through rural parts of Buffalo County. Several farmsteads were hit but damage was limited to shingles removed from roofs, outbuildings damaged and empty grain bins destroyed. There were multiple power poles and lines down by this storm.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:57 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:33 UTC and running to 03:00 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 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Kearney Municipal (EAR), 8 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), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:25 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

37 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.