EF2 tornado, Harbine, Nebraska, May 27, 2013

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 27, 2013

Touchdown

9:02 PM CDT (02:02 UTC)

Lifted

9:06 PM CDT (02:06 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

5.9 miles (9.5 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

40.180, -96.917

Lift-off point

40.178, -96.975

Record number

1305272002-01

29 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 112 mph.

• Large Trees and Fence Down.
• Collapsed Barn, Grain Bins pushed off foundation.
• Center Pivot knocked over.
• Shed roof collapsed on farm equipment and old fire truck.

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

Thunderstorms developed along a stationary boundary near the Kansas and Nebraska border on the afternoon of May 27th. Due to high amounts of instability and shear in the atmosphere these thunderstorms quickly became severe. The thunderstorms moved east over southern Nebraska, moving into southeast Nebraska by early evening. Although other isolated severe weather was reported, one particular storm moving through Jefferson and Gage Counties produced the majority of the severe weather. The storm complex exited southeast Nebraska prior to midnight producing severe weather around the Falls City Nebraska area.

A NWS storm survey indicated that a tornado developed approximately 2 miles south of Harbine. The tornado traveled in an east northeast direction impacting several farmsteads in Jefferson County. There was minor damage to 4 houses, and 5 out buildings were damaged beyond repair. Other damage included over-turned center pivots and tree damage. Approximately 2 miles east southeast of Harbine the tornado produced damage consistent with a weak EF2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Here a large recently well-built metal outbuildings were destroyed, minor damage was done to a home, and 2X4 boards were driven into the ground.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:56 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:13 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:56 UTC and running to 03:49 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 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.

Beatrice Municip (BIE), 21 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), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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 2013 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.