Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2012
EF0 tornado, Ringgold, Nebraska, March 18, 2012
This EF0 tornado ran 5.3 miles across McPherson County on March 18, 2012, touching down at 9:39 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- March 18, 2012
- Touchdown
- 9:39 PM CDT (02:39 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:43 PM CDT (02:43 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 5.3 miles (8.5 km)
- Path width
- 20 yards (18 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- County
- McPherson County
- Touchdown point
- 41.434, -100.778
- Lift-off point
- 41.510, -100.790
- Record number
- 1203182039-01
What the Weather Service recorded
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 approximately five miles south southeast of Ringgold in McPherson County and tracked north and northwest before dissipating near the Ringgold church. Tornado damage included several large tree limbs broken off, cedar trees uprooted, a center pivot irrigation system twisted and overturned, damage to a church building and small storage building. The tornado was on the ground intermittently for four minutes.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
11 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:28 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:00 UTC | 23:40 UTC | Red Flag Warning | LBF |
| 17:00 UTC | 09:09 UTC | High Wind Watch | LBF |
| 17:00 UTC | 00:33 UTC | High Wind Warning | LBF |
| 00:33 UTC | 09:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | LBF |
| 00:38 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 01:05 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 02:28 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LBF |
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 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.
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z
2.7 hours before the tornado, 41 km from the path. March 19, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1047 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -43 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1701 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1861 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 185 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 252 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 6.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 8.4 K/km
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z
9.3 hours after it, 41 km from the path. March 19, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -71454 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3202 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 1 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.7 K/km
The surface observations
North Platte (LBF), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:53 UTC | 71 | 54 | 160° 22 kt | 36 | 995.9 | |
| 01:53 UTC | 68 | 56 | 160° 29 kt | 42 | 996.3 | -RA |
| 02:07 UTC | 68 | 55.4 | 160° 33 kt | 43 | 997.3 | -TSRA |
| 02:53 UTC | 65 | 57 | 150° 26 kt | 38 | 997.6 | VCTS |
| 03:14 UTC | 64.4 | 55.4 | 170° 27 kt | 37 | 997.6 | |
| 03:53 UTC | 65 | 56 | 170° 24 kt | 36 | 997.3 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:38 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:28 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 2 Nw Sarben | Keith, NE | |
| 00:28 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Sarben | Keith, NE | NICKEL SIZED HAIL REPORTED BY NERAIN OBSERVER |
| 00:28 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Paxton | Keith, NE | |
| 00:48 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 25 N Sarben | Mcpherson, NE | |
| 01:19 UTC | HAIL 1 | 14 Sw Mullen | Hooker, NE | |
| 01:25 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 8 Sw North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 01:28 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 5 Sse Hershey | Lincoln, NE | |
| 01:31 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | 10 S North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 01:39 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 51 | 3 E North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 01:59 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 17 Sw North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 02:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Sw North Platte | Lincoln, NE | WELL DEFINED TORNADO ON THE GROUND WITH MULTIPLE POWER FLASHES WEST OF TOWN. |
| 02:12 UTC | TORNADO | 5 S North Platte | Lincoln, NE | LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTS LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR LAKE MALONEY. |
| 02:15 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W North Platte | Lincoln, NE | *** 1 INJ *** HOUSE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED NEAR FRONT STREET.OCCUPANT WAS INITIALLY TRAPPED BUT HAS SINCE BEEN RESCUED. |
| 02:17 UTC | TORNADO | North Platte | Lincoln, NE | PUBLIC REPORTS TORNADO ON THE GROUND 1 MILE WEST OF SOUTH MILLER SCHOOL ROAD |
| 02:18 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Wsw North Platte | Lincoln, NE | 2 HOUSES DAMAGED. VISUAL CROSSING BAILEY YARDS. |
| 02:20 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Wsw North Platte | Lincoln, NE | TRAINED SPOTTERS REPORTED DEBRIS CLOUD AND STOVE PIPE TORNADO LOOKING NORTHWEST TOWARD BAILEY YARD. |
| 02:20 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W North Platte | Lincoln, NE | PRELIMARY STORM SURVEY INDICATED 1 MINOR INJURY...SEVERAL POWERPOLES SNAPPED AND AT LEAST 3 HOMES HEAVILY DAMAGED JUST WEST OF THE BAILEY YARDS NEAR 9097 WEST FRONT STREET. |
| 02:20 UTC | TORNADO | North Platte | Lincoln, NE | SPOTTER REPORTED WELL DEFINED TORNADO NEAR BAILEY YARD IN NORTH PLATTE. |
| 02:22 UTC | TORNADO | 1 N North Platte | Lincoln, NE | SPOTTER REPORTED THAT TORNADO HAS ROPED OUT BUT WELL DEFINED WALL CLOUD AND FUNNEL CLOUD STILL EXISTS JUST NORTH OF NORTH PLATTE. |
| 02:22 UTC | TORNADO | North Platte | Lincoln, NE | LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A TORNADO AT BUFFALO AND NORTH RIVER ROAD IN NORTH PLATTE. |
| 02:28 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 N North Platte | Lincoln, NE | SPOTTER REPORTS FUNNEL CLOUD APPROXIMATELY 5 MILES NORTH OF NORTH PLATTE MOVING NORTH |
| 02:30 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 02:30 UTC | TORNADO | 10 N North Platte | Lincoln, NE | TORNADO ON THE GROUND WITH A CYCLIC LIFTING OF THE FUNNEL. |
| 02:34 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 15 Nne North Platte | Lincoln, NE | A 40X22 SHED WAS DESTROYED. |
| 02:39 UTC | TORNADO | 15 N North Platte | Lincoln, NE | SPOTTER REPORTS TORNADO BECOMING MORE WELL DEFINED. LOCATION IS APPROXIMATE. |
| 02:43 UTC | TORNADO | 5 S Ringgold | Mcpherson, NE | A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 5 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF RINGGOLD AND TRAVELED INTERMITTENTLY ON THE GROUND FOR FOUR MINUTES TO THE NORTH AND NORTHWEST BEFORE DISSIPATING NEAR THE RINGGOLD CHURCH. TORNADO DAMAGE I |
| 02:45 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 W North Platte | Lincoln, NE | |
| 02:47 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 15 Nne North Platte | Lincoln, NE | FUNNEL SPOTTED LOOKING NORTHWEST TOWARD LOGAN AND MCPHERSON COUNTIES |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of March 18, 2012
10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 18 | 6:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Greer, OK | 3.9 | 150 | |||
| March 18 | 7:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 18 | 7:27 PM CDT | EF0 | Greer, OK | 1.4 | 75 | |||
| March 18 | 7:37 PM CDT | EF0 | Beckham, OK | 1.0 | 75 | |||
| March 18 | 9:10 PM CDT | EF3 | Lincoln, NE | 6.7 | 100 | 2 | $500,000 | |
| March 18 | 9:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Lincoln, NE | 1.5 | 150 | 1 | $250,000 | |
| March 18 | 9:14 PM CDT | EF3 | Lincoln, NE | 1.7 | 100 | 2 | $750,000 | |
| March 18 | 9:18 PM CDT | EF2 | Lincoln, NE | 1.7 | 50 | $200,000 | ||
| March 18 | 9:19 PM MDT | EF0 | Cherry, NE | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 18 | 12:28 AM CDT | EF2 | Ector, TX | 1.0 | 40 | 3 | $1.0 million |
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.