Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2011

EF0 tornado, Sidney, Nebraska, June 25, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Cheyenne County on June 25, 2011, touching down at 7:53 PM MDT 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, 2011
Touchdown
7:53 PM MDT (01:53 UTC)
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cheyenne County
Touchdown point
41.160, -102.994
Lift-off point
41.160, -102.994
Record number
1106251953-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and produced hail and reports of weak tornadoes.

Law enforcement reported an apparent brief touchdown by a weak tornado with no damage.

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

The warnings

29 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:24 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:11 UTC01:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
01:24 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:47 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningCYS
02:13 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WarningCYS
02:43 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

1.9 hours before the tornado, 145 km from the path. June 26, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2011-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 395 joules per kilogram, CIN -88, lifted condensation level 3421 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2011-06-26The 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 24 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 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
395 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88 J/kg
Surface CAPE
994 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3421 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.8
0-3 km lapse rate
9.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

10.1 hours after it, 145 km from the path. June 26, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2011-06-26Temperature 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 -71966, lifted condensation level 5454 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2011-06-26The 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 60 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 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
-71966 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
5454 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:55 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
00:52 UTCTORNADO12 Ne KimballKimball, NEBRIEF TOUCHDOWN.
00:54 UTCHAIL 1.7519 Se HarrisburgKimball, NEGOLF BALL SIZED HAIL LASTED FROM 654 PM UNTIL 656 PM MDT.
01:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W PotterCheyenne, NESEMI BLOWN OVER ON INTERSTATE 80 JUST INSIDE CHEYENNE COUNTY LINE.
01:25 UTCTORNADO3 W PotterCheyenne, NESEMI BLOWN OVER ON INTERSTATE 80 JUST INSIDE CHEYENNE COUNTY LINE. DAMAGE CAUSED BY APPARENT TORNADO.
01:28 UTCTORNADO3 W PotterKimball, NETWO ROPE TORNADOES.
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGPotterCheyenne, NETWO LARGE TREES DOWN IN POTTER DUE TO STRONG WINDS.
01:44 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 Nw SidneyCheyenne, NE
01:44 UTCHAIL 0.54 E PotterCheyenne, NEALSO HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WIND.
01:53 UTCTORNADO1 Nw SidneyCheyenne, NEDEBRIS REPORTED FROM TORNADO JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN.
02:07 UTCHAIL 1SidneyCheyenne, NEQUARTER SIZED HAIL ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TOWN. SPOTTER OBSERVED STRONG ROTATION TO THE WEST.
02:11 UTCHAIL 1.75SidneyCheyenne, NEGOLF BALL SIZED HAIL ON THE WEST SIDE OF TOWN. ONGOING AT THE TIME OF THE REPORT.
02:20 UTCHAIL 2.75SidneyCheyenne, NENUMEROUS REPORTS OF GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL IN AND AROUND SIDNEY. BASEBALL SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TOWN.
03:04 UTCHAIL 1.5ColtonCheyenne, NEMOSTLY PEA TO MARBLE HAIL.
03:15 UTCHAIL 1.758 Nw ChappellDeuel, NEDELAYED REPORT...PUBLIC REPORTED GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL 8 MILES NW OF CHAPPELL
03:32 UTCHAIL 0.887 W ChappellDeuel, NE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 25, 2011

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 256:52 PM MDTEF0Kimball, NE0.020
June 257:28 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, NE0.020

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.