EF3 tornado, North Platte, Nebraska, March 18, 2012

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 18, 2012

Touchdown

9:14 PM CDT (02:14 UTC)

Lifted

9:17 PM CDT (02:17 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.7 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$750,000

County

Lincoln County

Touchdown point

41.144, -100.872

Lift-off point

41.168, -100.863

Record number

1203182014-01

34 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LBF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 152 mph.

• Several windows sucked out with visible roof and chimney damage.
• A 24 foot stock trailer moved over 300 yards northwest and destroyed in field.
• Grain bin destroyed and moved 230 yards to the northeast across road into a field.
• West half of home destroyed with only the fire place left standing. Several outbuilding destroyed and extensive tree damage.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A large upper level trough of low pressure emerged onto the Central Plains on March 18th, 2012. Isolated severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours, where one isolated severe thunderstorm produced several tornadoes from central Lincoln County north into eastern Cherry County. One of the tornadoes produced significant damage near North Platte, in central Lincoln County. Additional damage was reported north in southeast McPherson County in the Ringgold area.

A tornado touched down 10 miles southwest of North Platte and traveled north and destroyed a large metal transmission tower. Two homes were damaged, several outbuildings and garages were damaged or destroyed. Two center pivot irrigation systems were overturned with one wood transmission tower destroyed and extensive power line damage along the path in addition to tree damage. The tornado dissipated while moving north of Walker road.

A tornado touched down four and a half miles west of North Platte just south of west Front street and traveled north northeast. The tornado damage was extensive to include two homes destroyed and two additional homes with significant damage from trees blown over and windows blown out. Two residents were injured in their homes. As the tornado traveled north across the Union Pacific Bailey Yards, an estimated 15 tanker cars were blown over and debris was scattered northeast for one and a half miles. A center pivot irrigation system was overturned north of Highway 30 before the tornado lifted five and a half miles northwest of North Platte.

A tornado touched down five miles west northwest of North Platte, just south of Platte Valley Road, where a two story barn was destroyed with several outbuildings damaged. The tornado tracked northeast where a field of boards from the barn were driven into the ground, along with other debris. As the tornado tracked northeast, two homes were damaged, a garage had structural damage, and an outbuilding was destroyed. Extensive tree damage occurred before the tornado dissipated five miles northwest of North Platte.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:04 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 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 Slight Risk. 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 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.

North Platte (LBF), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:15 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 2012 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.