EF0 tornado, Clay Center to Sutton, Nebraska, May 29, 2013

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 29, 2013

Touchdown

2:56 PM CDT (19:56 UTC)

Lifted

3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Clay County

Touchdown point

40.546, -98.046

Lift-off point

40.553, -98.045

Record number

1305291356-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

• Added based upon aerial image provided to us.
• Based upon aerial picture provided to us. Max wind of tornado 75 mph. Width 25 yards

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

There was a lot of active weather across South Central Nebraska on this Wednesday, occurring in multiple episodes throughout the entire day, culminating in seven tornadoes. Three of these tornadoes were classified as EF-1 with the other four producing EF-0 damage. Just after sunrise, scattered showers and thunderstorms developed. While most of these storms were sub-severe, the first severe reports of the day occurred over Franklin county. Just before 10 am CDT, one inch hail fell over parts of Franklin county. These thunderstorms departed into eastern Nebraska by 1 pm CDT. In the wake of the initial storms, several storms, some of which were supercells, formed over Webster and Franklin counties, and congealed into clusters and lifted northeast into Adams and Clay counties. Around 2 pm CDT, hail up to the size of golf balls was reported in and nearby Hastings. As these storm clusters moved north, new isolated supercells formed in surrounding areas, including in their wake. These newly-formed cells were the ones that produced several highly-visible tornadoes over York and Clay counties. Six tornadoes occurred in a two hour period, between 3 and 5 pm CDT, over these counties. Other storms lifted into Nuckolls and Thayer counties from northern Kansas. One of these storms produced 61 mph winds at the Hebron municipal airport just before 5 pm CDT. Just after this time, another isolated supercell formed over Hall county and moved north into Howard county. This storm produced a brief tornado near Ashton and one inch hail near Cotesfield. While this was the last of the severe weather, the thunderstorms were far from over. A squall line, which had been active over southwestern Nebraska, advanced eastward while continuing to weaken. The repeated thunderstorm development resulted in significant rainfall amounts. Measurements of 2 to 3 inches were widespread. The highest total was 3.76 inches, in the town of Harvard and 7 miles southeast of Stromsburg.||These numerous thunderstorms, and the associated severe weather, were a result of lee cyclogenesis over Colorado. A negatively tilted upper-level trough extended from Colorado southeastward to Texas, with the leading edge of a 100 knot upper-level jet streak just to the west. The atmosphere was extremely unstable. Temperatures nearing 80 degrees, with dewpoints approaching 70 degrees, resulted in MLCAPE of 3000 to 3500 J/kg. Deep layer shear was around 40 knots. The supercells that became tornadic occurred in areas where surface winds were significantly veered from the southeast.

This tornado touched down in open land for a few minutes approximately 2 miles north-northeast of Clay Center. The maximum wind speed was estimated to be 75 MPH, but no damage was reported.

This tornado briefly touched down approximately 6 miles north of Sutton, with an maximum wind speed estimated to be 75 MPH. No damage was reported.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:06 UTC and running to 03:00 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 16:24 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.

Hastings (HSI), 33 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), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:54 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

25 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.