Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2013

EF0 tornado, Dix, Nebraska, June 22, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Kimball County on June 22, 2013, touching down at 6:58 PM MDT and reaching 40 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 22, 2013
Touchdown
6:58 PM MDT (00:58 UTC)
Lifted
7:02 PM MDT (01:02 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Kimball County
Touchdown point
41.230, -103.480
Lift-off point
41.230, -103.469
Record number
1306221858-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms over southeast Wyoming moved east and southeast into the southern Nebraska Panhandle during the late afternoon and early evening. These storms produced large hail, strong winds, very heavy rain and a few tornadoes.

A weak tornado touched down just east of Dix between U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 80. The tornado moved east across open country for a few minutes before lifting. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:56 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:15 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchCYS
23:21 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:13 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:56 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningCYS
01:11 UTC01:39 UTCFlood AdvisoryCYS
01:32 UTC04:50 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 20:00 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

1.0 hours before the tornado, 153 km from the path. June 23, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2013-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 652 joules per kilogram, CIN -96, lifted condensation level 2701 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-06-23The 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 -29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.193958Sfc1 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
652 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-96 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1411 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
9.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

11.0 hours after it, 153 km from the path. June 23, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2013-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 17 joules per kilogram, CIN -403, lifted condensation level 1605 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-06-23The 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 -58 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.193958Sfc1 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
17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-403 J/kg
Surface CAPE
46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1605 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
101 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 surface observations

Kimball (IBM), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:15 UTC7958130° 15 kt221009.1
23:35 UTC77.1859110° 13 kt221009.8
23:55 UTC75.5660120° 16 kt211010.2VCTS
00:15 UTC74.4860.890° 11 kt1010.8VCTS
00:35 UTC65.6648310° 11 kt181012.2VCTS
00:55 UTC59.5450.3650° 12 kt1010.8-TSRA
01:15 UTC60.849.8250° 18 kt211009.8-VCTSRA
01:35 UTC62.7849.8240° 16 kt211010.5
01:55 UTC61.3449.8260° 7 kt141011.2
02:15 UTC61.885010° 6 kt1012.9
02:35 UTC61.5252.16360° 14 kt1012.9
02:55 UTC62.7852.34350° 10 kt1013.2

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

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:56 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
23:26 UTCTORNADO3 Ne HarrisburgBanner, NETORNADO VISIBLE ON THE GROUND BETWEEN 526 AND 532 PM MDT. TORNADO DISSIPATED SHORTLY THEREAFTER. REPORT FROM OFF DUTY SPC FORECASTER.
00:08 UTCHAIL 14 W Oliver ReservoirKimball, NE
00:19 UTCHAIL 1.75BushnellKimball, NEREPORTED AT BUSHNELL AND AT OLIVER LAKE.
00:26 UTCHAIL 14 Wsw RedingtonBanner, NE
00:58 UTCTORNADODixKimball, NETORNADO WAS ON INTERSTATE 80.
00:59 UTCTORNADODixKimball, NETORNADO LIFTED AT 702 PM.
01:11 UTCHAIL 0.5DixKimball, NE
02:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD10 S HarrisburgBanner, NEHEAVY RAIN FROM THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED FLASH FLOODING OVER MUCH OF SOUTHERN BANNER COUNTY. MANY ROADS WERE UNDER WATER AND WERE DAMAGED.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2013

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:58 PM MDTEF0Platte, WY0.430
June 222:06 PM MDTEF0Natrona, WY0.120
June 223:54 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.430
June 224:30 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY4.340
June 224:50 PM MDTEF1Banner, NE7.9100
June 225:26 PM MDTEF0Banner, NE1.140
June 228:55 PM CDTEF1Columbia, WI3.2125

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.