Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2010

EF0 tornado, Alliance, Nebraska, June 7, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Box Butte County on June 7, 2010, touching down at 7:24 PM MDT and reaching 100 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 7, 2010
Touchdown
7:24 PM MDT (01:24 UTC)
Lifted
7:35 PM MDT (01:35 UTC)
On the ground
11 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Box Butte County
Touchdown point
42.120, -102.908
Lift-off point
42.120, -102.908
Record number
1006071924-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Moist southerly winds brought 50 to mid 60 degree dew points into the area. Due to so much moisture present, low status formed and lasted through the early afternoon. The stratus caused the atmosphere to remain stable through the early afternoon until the stratus began to clear out. With the moisture still present during the afternoon and a strong jet stream overhead, thunderstorms that former over the higher terrain of Southeast Wyoming began to move eastward into the panhandle. The unstable conditions also allowed thunderstorms to develop in the panhandle during the late afternoon and evening hours.

No damage was reported with the tornado. Estimated duration, path length and width.

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

The warnings

22 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:02 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:31 UTC and running to 04:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:31 UTC04:02 UTCTornado WatchCYS
23:57 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:12 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:40 UTC01:18 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:43 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:44 UTC03:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryCYS
01:02 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:14 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:43 UTC02:10 UTCTornado WarningCYS
02:01 UTC05:36 UTCFlash Flood WarningCYS

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 00:59 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.

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), 00:00Z

1.4 hours before the tornado, 217 km from the path. June 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2010-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3 joules per kilogram, CIN -179, lifted condensation level 769 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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2010-06-08The 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 8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 77 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-179 J/kg
Surface CAPE
472 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
769 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
77 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
317 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), 12:00Z

10.6 hours after it, 217 km from the path. June 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2010-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -81439, lifted condensation level 1727 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2010-06-08The 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 -69 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-81439 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1727 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 191 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:24 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
00:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 N HemingfordBox Butte, NE3 INCH LIMB RIPPED OFF TREE. ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS TO BE 70 MPH TO 80 MPH. TIME ESTIMATED REPORT.
01:02 UTCHAIL 0.8819 W AllianceBox Butte, NE
01:25 UTCTORNADO2 Nw AllianceBox Butte, NEOFFICER AT THIS LOCATION REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND.
01:33 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDMinatareScotts Bluff, NELOCATED ALONG US HIGHWAY 26.
01:38 UTCTSTM WND GST 55MinatareScotts Bluff, NEMEASURED BY PROBES LOCATED ALONG US HIGHWAY 26
01:38 UTCHAIL 1.75AllianceBox Butte, NEMARBLE TO PING PONG SIZED HAIL REPORTED.
01:40 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 6017 Nne AntiochSheridan, NEPUBLIC REPORT OF AT LEAST 60 MPH WINDS WITH DIME SIZED HAIL BREAKING OUT WINDOWS OF HOUSE.
01:45 UTCHAIL 15 Nw BayardScotts Bluff, NEHAIL NOT SYMMETRIC. HAIL WAS INCH ACROSS BUT VERY THIN.
01:51 UTCTSTM WND GST 552 S BayardMorrill, NEREPORTED ALONG US HIGHWAY 26.
01:55 UTCTORNADO3 Sw BayardMorrill, NETORNADO SPOTTED. TOTALLY DAMAGED RV. RATED AN EF1 TORNADO.

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 7, 2010

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 76:20 PM MDTEF0Sioux, NE0.5100
June 77:11 PM MDTEF0Bowman, ND1.725$50,000
June 77:23 PM MDTEF1Scotts Bluff, NE19.0100
June 77:25 PM MDTEF0Scotts Bluff, NE0.3100
June 77:28 PM MDTEF0Scotts Bluff, NE0.3100
June 77:54 PM MDTEF1Morrill, NE2.0100$60,000
June 78:12 PM MDTEF0Bowman, ND0.325
June 78:28 PM MDTEF0Morrill, NE1.0100

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.