Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2014

EF0 tornado, Hubbard, Nebraska, June 16, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Dakota County on June 16, 2014, touching down at 5:41 PM CDT and reaching 50 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 16, 2014
Touchdown
5:41 PM CDT (22:41 UTC)
Lifted
5:42 PM CDT (22:42 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Dakota County
Touchdown point
42.360, -96.590
Lift-off point
42.360, -96.585
Record number
1406161641-01

The damage survey

19 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 122 mph.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms produced two tornadoes in extreme northeast Nebraska, one of which crossed into Dixon County from the south. There were also reports of large hail. The storms affected the area during the late afternoon and evening of June 16th. Persistent moderate to heavy rain from the thunderstorms caused areal flooding which lasted into the morning of June 17th.

A brief tornado caused no reported damage.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS FSD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:27 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 02:58 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:15 UTC18:43 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFSD
15:00 UTC05:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchFSD
15:07 UTC15:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD
20:15 UTC02:58 UTCTornado WatchFSD
21:58 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningFSD
22:27 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningFSD
22:47 UTC23:06 UTCTornado WarningFSD
02:06 UTC14:00 UTCFlood WarningFSD
02:34 UTC03:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD
02:58 UTC08:05 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFSD
03:15 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD
03:34 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSD

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 117 km from the path. June 16, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2014-06-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 33 joules per kilogram, CIN -485, lifted condensation level 1667 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2014-06-16The 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 137 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
33 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-485 J/kg
Surface CAPE
398 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
236 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 117 km from the path. June 17, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2014-06-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3563 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 1174 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2014-06-17The 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 248 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3563 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4120 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1174 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
248 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
362 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.8
Supercell composite
28.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:43 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
21:16 UTCTORNADO4 W WisnerCuming, NE
21:44 UTCTORNADO5 W PenderThurston, NE
21:46 UTCTORNADO5 E BeemerCuming, NE
21:58 UTCTORNADO2 E WakefieldDixon, NE
22:30 UTCHAIL 0.88WinnebagoThurston, NELATE REPORT.
22:41 UTCTORNADO2 S HubbardDakota, NETORNADO ON THE GROUND
22:52 UTCHAIL 13 N HubbardDakota, NE
23:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 Nnw WisnerCuming, NEWATER HAD BEEN OVER THE ROAD. CORNSTALKS WASHED FROM FIELD ONTO EDGE OF ROAD. STILL SOME WATER ON ROAD THE NEXT DAY AT LOCATION 5.5 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF WISNER. TIME ESTIMATED. SENDING OF REPORT WAS DELAYED.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 16, 2014

35 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 163:38 PM CDTEF0Stanton, NE1.3100
June 163:42 PM CDTEF4Stanton, NE12.1400$2.0 million
June 163:43 PM CDTEF0Lyon, IA0.250
June 164:00 PM CDTEF4Stanton, NE23.9500120$14 million
June 164:13 PM CDTEF4Stanton, NE11.55001$1.1 million
June 164:40 PM CDTEF4Wayne, NE15.8530$3.0 million
June 165:44 PM CDTEF0Pocahontas, IA6.1250
June 166:22 PM CDTEF0Humboldt, IA4.650
June 166:24 PM CDTEF0Custer, NE0.240
June 166:35 PM CDTEF1Garfield, NE2.4400$15,000
June 166:48 PM CDTEF1Cerro Gordo, IA3.0110$50,000
June 166:52 PM CDTEF1Wright, IA2.6175$27,000
June 166:56 PM CDTEF0Cerro Gordo, IA1.140$5,000
June 167:01 PM CDTEF2Garfield, NE5.2500$100,000
June 167:20 PM CDTEF2Garfield, NE1.6700$100,000
June 167:28 PM CDTEF2Garfield, NE0.3400$5,000
June 167:30 PM CDTEF0Garfield, NE0.240$1,000
June 167:39 PM CDTEF1Butler, IA4.7100$200,000
June 167:45 PM CDTEF0Butler, IA1.7150$400,000
June 167:52 PM CDTEF1Butler, IA2.1120$200,000
June 168:12 PM CDTEF0Bremer, IA2.075
June 168:23 PM MDTEF0Stark, ND1.425
June 169:30 PM CDTEF1Buchanan, IA1.350$50,000
June 169:33 PM CDTEF1Delaware, IA12.650$100,000
June 1610:05 PM CDTEF0Benton, IA0.130
June 1610:45 PM CDTEF2Grant, WI3.81005$21 million
June 1610:49 PM CDTEF1Grant, WI0.525$540,000
June 1611:00 PM CDTEF1Lafayette, WI1.250$33,000
June 1611:00 PM CDTEF1Lafayette, WI4.3200$1.5 million
June 1611:10 PM CDTEF1Iowa, WI0.4100$20,000
June 1611:36 PM CDTEF1Green, WI0.5125$200,000
June 1611:36 PM CDTEF1Green, WI0.4125$50,000
June 1612:08 AM CDTEF3Dane, WI1.0100$14 million
June 1612:15 AM CDTEF2Dane, WI0.2200$5.0 million
June 1612:21 AM CDTEF1Dane, WI1.5300$300,000

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.