EF2 tornado, Burwell, Nebraska, June 16, 2014

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

June 16, 2014

Touchdown

7:28 PM CDT (00:28 UTC)

Lifted

7:32 PM CDT (00:32 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000

County

Garfield County

Touchdown point

41.835, -98.957

Lift-off point

41.835, -98.951

Record number

1406161828-01

32 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LBF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• at intersection of hwy 91 and 463 NE

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

A warm front across central Nebraska became the focus for supercell thunderstorm development. The severe storms produced six tornadoes and large hail. The first tornado occurred in far northeast Custer County and the last occurred in southeastern Garfield County. Three of the six tornadoes in Garfield County were rated EF-2, where tornado damage included large tree trunks snapped, wooden power poles snapped, center irrigation pivots overturned, a small outbuilding overturned and street signs damaged.

At 1801CST, a tornado touched down 1 mile north of Burwell and traveled 5.2 miles before dissipating 5 miles northeast of Burwell. The tornado traveled northeast where the storm damage observed included several large tree trunks and wooden power poles snapped. The tornado crossed Highway 11 and overturned a center irrigation pivot system and downed additional large limbs before dissipating at 1815CST. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph with the tornado rated an EF-2. Maximum path width was 500 yards.

At 1820CST, the tornado touched down 8 miles northeast of Burwell and moved northeast. The tornado damaged trees, street signs, and buildings along the damage path. Tree trunks were snapped in this area with maximum winds estimated at 125 mph. the tornado was rated an EF-2 with a maximum path width of 700 yards.

At 1828CST, a tornado touched down 10 miles east northeast of Burwell and tracked east about a half mile before dissipating at 1832CST. The tornado damaged several trees with some trunks of trees snapped. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph with the tornado rated and EF-2. Maximum path with was 400 yards.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:12 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:12 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 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 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.

Ord/Sharp Field (ODX), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:28 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 2014 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

35 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.