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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:15 UTC | 18:43 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | FSD |
| 15:00 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | FSD |
| 15:07 UTC | 15:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD |
| 20:15 UTC | 02:58 UTC | Tornado Watch | FSD |
| 21:58 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FSD |
| 22:27 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | FSD |
| 22:47 UTC | 23:06 UTC | Tornado Warning | FSD |
| 02:06 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Flood Warning | FSD |
| 02:34 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD |
| 02:58 UTC | 08:05 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | FSD |
| 03:15 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD |
| 03:34 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD |
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.
- 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
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z
1.3 hours after it, 117 km from the path. June 17, 2014.
- 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
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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:16 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W Wisner | Cuming, NE | |
| 21:44 UTC | TORNADO | 5 W Pender | Thurston, NE | |
| 21:46 UTC | TORNADO | 5 E Beemer | Cuming, NE | |
| 21:58 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Wakefield | Dixon, NE | |
| 22:30 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Winnebago | Thurston, NE | LATE REPORT. |
| 22:41 UTC | TORNADO | 2 S Hubbard | Dakota, NE | TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 22:52 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 N Hubbard | Dakota, NE | |
| 23:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 5 Nnw Wisner | Cuming, NE | WATER 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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 16 | 3:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Stanton, NE | 1.3 | 100 | |||
| June 16 | 3:42 PM CDT | EF4 | Stanton, NE | 12.1 | 400 | $2.0 million | ||
| June 16 | 3:43 PM CDT | EF0 | Lyon, IA | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 16 | 4:00 PM CDT | EF4 | Stanton, NE | 23.9 | 500 | 1 | 20 | $14 million |
| June 16 | 4:13 PM CDT | EF4 | Stanton, NE | 11.5 | 500 | 1 | $1.1 million | |
| June 16 | 4:40 PM CDT | EF4 | Wayne, NE | 15.8 | 530 | $3.0 million | ||
| June 16 | 5:44 PM CDT | EF0 | Pocahontas, IA | 6.1 | 250 | |||
| June 16 | 6:22 PM CDT | EF0 | Humboldt, IA | 4.6 | 50 | |||
| June 16 | 6:24 PM CDT | EF0 | Custer, NE | 0.2 | 40 | |||
| June 16 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Garfield, NE | 2.4 | 400 | $15,000 | ||
| June 16 | 6:48 PM CDT | EF1 | Cerro Gordo, IA | 3.0 | 110 | $50,000 | ||
| June 16 | 6:52 PM CDT | EF1 | Wright, IA | 2.6 | 175 | $27,000 | ||
| June 16 | 6:56 PM CDT | EF0 | Cerro Gordo, IA | 1.1 | 40 | $5,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:01 PM CDT | EF2 | Garfield, NE | 5.2 | 500 | $100,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:20 PM CDT | EF2 | Garfield, NE | 1.6 | 700 | $100,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:28 PM CDT | EF2 | Garfield, NE | 0.3 | 400 | $5,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Garfield, NE | 0.2 | 40 | $1,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:39 PM CDT | EF1 | Butler, IA | 4.7 | 100 | $200,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Butler, IA | 1.7 | 150 | $400,000 | ||
| June 16 | 7:52 PM CDT | EF1 | Butler, IA | 2.1 | 120 | $200,000 | ||
| June 16 | 8:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Bremer, IA | 2.0 | 75 | |||
| June 16 | 8:23 PM MDT | EF0 | Stark, ND | 1.4 | 25 | |||
| June 16 | 9:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Buchanan, IA | 1.3 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| June 16 | 9:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Delaware, IA | 12.6 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| June 16 | 10:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Benton, IA | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 16 | 10:45 PM CDT | EF2 | Grant, WI | 3.8 | 100 | 5 | $21 million | |
| June 16 | 10:49 PM CDT | EF1 | Grant, WI | 0.5 | 25 | $540,000 | ||
| June 16 | 11:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Lafayette, WI | 1.2 | 50 | $33,000 | ||
| June 16 | 11:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Lafayette, WI | 4.3 | 200 | $1.5 million | ||
| June 16 | 11:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Iowa, WI | 0.4 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| June 16 | 11:36 PM CDT | EF1 | Green, WI | 0.5 | 125 | $200,000 | ||
| June 16 | 11:36 PM CDT | EF1 | Green, WI | 0.4 | 125 | $50,000 | ||
| June 16 | 12:08 AM CDT | EF3 | Dane, WI | 1.0 | 100 | $14 million | ||
| June 16 | 12:15 AM CDT | EF2 | Dane, WI | 0.2 | 200 | $5.0 million | ||
| June 16 | 12:21 AM CDT | EF1 | Dane, WI | 1.5 | 300 | $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.