Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2010

EF0 tornado, Berwyn, Nebraska, June 3, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Custer County on June 3, 2010, touching down at 6:30 PM CDT and reaching 10 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 3, 2010
Touchdown
6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Lifted
6:34 PM CDT (23:34 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Custer County
Touchdown point
41.350, -99.520
Lift-off point
41.351, -99.519
Record number
1006031730-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A trough of low pressure extended southwest across central Nebraska. Moisture pooled in advance of the trough where surface heating steepened lapse rates for increasing instability with the heating of the day. Thunderstorms rapidly became severe with several large hail events and one brief tornado in the evening.

A brief tornado touched down and crossed the road west of town. The storm chaser's car was hit with debris as the tornado crossed the road.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:10 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:00 UTC and running to 02:55 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:25 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
22:42 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
23:00 UTC02:55 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLBF
23:10 UTC23:45 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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), 12:00Z

11.5 hours before the tornado, 94 km from the path. June 3, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2010-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 45 joules per kilogram, CIN -229, lifted condensation level 927 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2010-06-03The 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 346 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-229 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
927 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
346 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
314 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

0.5 hours after it, 94 km from the path. June 4, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2010-06-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 107 joules per kilogram, CIN -38, lifted condensation level 2680 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2010-06-04The 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 93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Surface CAPE
787 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2680 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6
0-3 km lapse rate
9.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:30 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
22:34 UTCHAIL 16 S SargentCuster, NE
22:52 UTCHAIL 13 E MernaCuster, NEQUARTER SIZE HAIL.
23:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 70MernaCuster, NETHUNDERSTORM WINDS OF 60 TO 70 MPH ACCOMPANIED BY HAIL UP TO NICKEL SIZE BLEW SIDING OFF OF HOUSES AND BROKE WINDOWS.
23:00 UTCHAIL 0.88MernaCuster, NE
23:08 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD11 Nw AnsleyCuster, NE
23:20 UTCHAIL 1AnsleyCuster, NEQUARTER SIZE HAIL.
23:25 UTCTSTM WND GST 70WestervilleCuster, NETHUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS ESTIMATED TO BE AT LEAST 70 MPH. THE WINDS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS...BROKE BRANCHES AROUND THREE INCHES IN DIAMETER...AND STRIPPED BARK OFF OF TREES.
23:25 UTCHAIL 1WestervilleCuster, NEQUARTER SIZE HAIL.
23:30 UTCTORNADO1 W BerwynCuster, NEDEBRIS HIT CHASERS CAR AS TORNADO CROSSED THE ROAD.
23:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 644 Nnw Loup CitySherman, NE
00:17 UTCHAIL 1Loup CitySherman, NEQUARTER SIZE HAIL STARTED AT 717 PM
00:21 UTCHAIL 1.25Loup CitySherman, NE
00:22 UTCHAIL 0.88Loup CitySherman, NEDIME TO NICKEL HAIL

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 3, 2010

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 31:06 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.115

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.