Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2010

EF0 tornado, Thedford, Nebraska, June 25, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Thomas County on June 25, 2010, touching down at 7:05 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 25, 2010
Touchdown
7:05 PM CDT (00:05 UTC)
Lifted
7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)
On the ground
12 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Thomas County
Touchdown point
41.796, -100.828
Lift-off point
41.786, -100.841
Record number
1006251805-03

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell thunderstorms developed east of a dry line on June 25th. The supercells produced large hail and brief tornadoes in Cherry and Thomas Counties.

The supercell thunderstorm produced several funnels prior to tornado development in southwest Thomas County. The tornado touched down 18 miles southwest of Thedford over open range land moving slowly to the southwest and lifted 19 miles southwest of Thedford. No damage was reported with the tornado.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:50 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:58 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningLBF
23:00 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningLBF
23:50 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningLBF
00:15 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningLBF

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 air that afternoon

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.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

0.1 hours before the tornado, 76 km from the path. June 26, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2010-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2558 joules per kilogram, CIN -73, lifted condensation level 2309 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2010-06-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 63 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2558 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-73 J/kg
Surface CAPE
5200 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2309 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
8.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z

11.9 hours after it, 76 km from the path. June 26, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2010-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1253 joules per kilogram, CIN -447, lifted condensation level 1860 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2010-06-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1253 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-447 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1860 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:02 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:57 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD10 Ne ThedfordThomas, NE
23:00 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD10 S SenecaThomas, NE
23:00 UTCTORNADO15 Se BrownleeCherry, NETHE TORNADO WAS 15 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BROWNLEE IN CHERRY COUNTY...WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF THEDFORD. THE TORNADO REPORTEDLY CAUSED MINOR DAMAGE.
23:49 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD16 Sw ThedfordThomas, NE
00:00 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD8 W ThedfordThomas, NE
00:05 UTCTORNADO18 Sw ThedfordThomas, NE
00:12 UTCTORNADO17 N TryonHooker, NETHE TORNADO REPORTEDLY LIFTED BY 717 PM CDT.
00:15 UTCHAIL 0.883 W ThedfordThomas, NE
00:25 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD18 Sw ThedfordThomas, NESEVERAL SEPARATE FUNNEL CLOUDS OCCURRED AT ONE TIME.
01:10 UTCHAIL 1.2513 Ne TryonMcpherson, NE
01:10 UTCHAIL 1.7510 N TryonMcpherson, NE
01:15 UTCHAIL 1.758 Nnw TryonMcpherson, NE
02:05 UTCHAIL 17 Nw TryonMcpherson, NE
02:28 UTCHAIL 0.88TryonMcpherson, NE

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 25, 2010

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 253:57 PM CDTEF0Hardeman, TN0.750$25,000
June 254:55 PM CDTEF1Morton, ND1.650$200,000
June 255:35 PM CDTEF0Emmons, ND0.520
June 255:55 PM CDTEF2Brown, MN0.350
June 255:00 PM MDTEF0Cherry, NE0.920
June 256:30 PM CDTEF2Nicollet, MN4.375
June 256:55 PM CDTEF2Blue Earth, MN0.950
June 256:55 PM CDTEF1Redwood, MN2.8200
June 256:58 PM CDTEF1Blue Earth, MN4.375
June 257:05 PM CDTEF0Cottonwood, MN0.250
June 257:05 PM CDTEF2Blue Earth, MN1.940
June 257:09 PM CDTEF0Blue Earth, MN0.350
June 258:10 PM CDTEF0Watonwan, MN0.910
June 258:19 PM CDTEF0Freeborn, MN0.930
June 258:38 PM CDTEF0Martin, MN0.430
June 259:53 PM CDTEF4Sibley–Little Rock tornado, IA13.780013$3.5 million
June 259:55 PM CDTEF1Lyon, IA1.2100$20,000
June 2510:45 PM CDTEF0Osceola, IA0.250
June 2510:53 PM CDTEF0Sioux, IA0.250
June 2511:05 PM CDTEF0O'Brien, IA0.6200
June 2511:42 PM CDTEF1O'Brien, IA3.3100$20,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.