EF1 tornado, Davenport to Shickley, Nebraska, May 2, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 2, 2012

Touchdown

10:03 PM CDT (03:03 UTC)

Lifted

10:07 PM CDT (03:07 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

Counties

Thayer and Fillmore counties

Touchdown point

40.342, -97.788

Lift-off point

40.356, -97.783

Record number

1205022103-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 65 mph.

• RFD winds from Tornado. Damage estimate 30K.

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

Multiple severe thunderstorms produced large hail up to softball size, localized flooding rains and one EF1 tornado between the evening of Wednesday the 2nd and early morning hours of Thursday the 3rd. Although no injuries were reported, this was the most significant of several severe weather episodes within South Central Nebraska between May 1st-4th and was also the most prolonged, with dozens of warnings issued over nearly a 12-hour period between 7 PM and 7 AM CDT. Despite the number of storm reports, this event was rather localized as only six counties within the 24-county area bore the brunt of severe weather. Severe storms focused in two primary zones: one a narrow southwest-to-northeast corridor extending from Buffalo through Nance Counties, and the other a concentrated, east-to-west corridor through mainly Adams, Clay and Fillmore Counties. The lone confirmed tornado, which struck after nightfall along the Thayer-Fillmore County line, was only on the ground for approximately one mile but caused considerable damage to a farmstead northeast of Davenport. Several areas experienced hail to at least golf ball size, but some of the most significant hail damage focused in and near northern portions of Hastings, where two separate rounds of large hail occurred between 10 PM-12 AM CDT. During the first round, stones up to softball size were reported within the city, and during the second round 2-inch diameter stones pounded the National Weather Service office. Rainfall wise, the heaviest measured amounts of 3-4 inches targeted much of Clay and Fillmore Counties, resulting in water running over Highway 6 west of Sutton, along with flooding of numerous county roads. ||In both primary zones of severe weather described above, things got underway between 7 PM-9 PM CDT. In the northern corridor between Buffalo and Nance Counties, initially linear multicell storms eventually transitioned into brief, semi-discrete supercells, with hail to around golf ball size reported near Amherst, Fullerton and Genoa. By 10 PM CDT, most of this activity north of Interstate 80 had either weakened or moved out of the area to the northeast. Meanwhile, storms within the southern area first developed as a multicell cluster in Nuckolls and Clay Counties. Around sunset, a slow-moving cyclic supercell evolved from this activity, producing the EF1 tornado near Davenport shortly after 10 PM CDT. Although reports of funnel clouds continued as this supercell drifted northeast toward Strang, no additional tornado touchdowns were confirmed. Between 10 PM-2 AM CDT, a nearly solid east-west corridor of hail and heavy rain-producing severe storms trained near the Highway 6 corridor between Adams and Fillmore Counties, as the original tornadic storm exited Fillmore County to the east. Between 2 AM-4 AM CDT, there was a brief lull in storm severity, while additional activity flared up farther north and west near the Interstate 80 and Highway 6 corridors. Finally, between 4 AM-7 AM CDT, one last round of hail-producing severe storms tracked east across parts of Adams, Clay and Fillmore Counties before exiting into eastern Nebraska. ||Regarding synoptic and mesoscale forcing, broad southwesterly flow aloft was not overly strong, with South Central Nebraska positioned well south of the primary shortwave trough traversing the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains. As a result, the initiation of severe storms was largely driven by the combination of strong convective instability and low level convergence. At the surface, the northern zone of severe weather was tied to a southwest-to-northeast oriented front/retreating outflow boundary. The initiation of the southern storm cluster and cyclic tornadic supercell appeared to be triggered by persistent moisture convergence along the northeast periphery of a weak surface low in north central Kansas. Once these storms developed, the onset of a modest low level jet after nightfall helped to enhance low level shear profiles, with 0-1 kilometer storm relative helicity around 200 m2/s2 by the time of the EF1 tornado. The mesoscale environment was quite supportive of supercells, with mid-evening parameters including 40 knots of 0-6 kilometer vertical wind shear and at least 3000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE.

This tornado crossed from Thayer County into Fillmore County, touching down approximately 2.5 miles northeast of Davenport and lifting approximately 3.5 miles northeast of Davenport. Along its path, a farmstead sustained house, garage and vehicle damage and a grain bin was destroyed. Two outbuildings, including a recently built barn, were destroyed and a center irrigation pivot was twisted. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 105 mph.

This tornado crossed from Thayer County into Fillmore County, touching down approximately 2.5 miles northeast of Davenport and lifting approximately 3.5 miles northeast of Davenport. Along its path, a farmstead sustained house, garage and vehicle damage and a grain bin was destroyed. Two outbuildings, including a recently built barn, were destroyed and a center irrigation pivot was twisted. The maximum wind speed was estimated at 105 mph.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:53 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:22 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 00:32 UTC and running to 07:00 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 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.

Hebron (HJH), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:05 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

1 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.