EF4 tornado, Stanton to Wakefield, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF4

Date

June 16, 2014

Touchdown

4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)

Lifted

4:39 PM CDT (21:39 UTC)

On the ground

26 minutes

Path length

11.5 miles (18.5 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.1 million

Crop damage

$250,000

Counties

Stanton, Cuming and Wayne counties

Touchdown point

41.974, -97.040

Lift-off point

42.117, -96.944

Record number

1406161513-01

260 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF4. The highest wind the damage implies is 191 mph.

• also outbuildings completely destroyed. semi overturned
• house was resting by gravity. no connections.
• no connections, but swept clean.
• car tossed nearly a quarter mile

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

During the early morning hours of June 16th a warm, humid and unstable airmass rapidly returned to eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. As this air returned to the region, scattered thunderstorms developed during the early morning hours and continued into early afternoon. These thunderstorms were responsible for mainly large hail, some of which was very large. These morning thunderstorms reinforced a warm front across eastern Nebraska during the afternoon. Extreme instability developed along this warm front and allowed for isolated thunderstorm development by mid afternoon, which quickly become severe. A single supercell thunderstorm went on to produce 4 violent tornadoes over the next 2 hours. Other strong and severe thunderstorms moved into northeast Nebraska in the evening and continued into the early morning hours.

This tornado developed about 5.5 miles southwest of the town of Pilger and moved directly northeast directly striking the town. The tornado did violent damage within the town of Pilger. Nearly 75 percent of the structures in the town received some damage, while structures near the center of the tornado were completely destroyed. A 5-year-old girl was killed and her mother seriously injured while attempting to take cover from their mobile home to a storm shelter. The tornado continued to move northeast past the town crossing Highway 275 about 1 mile west of the Cuming County line. The tornado continued northeast exiting Stanton County about 2.25 miles northeast of the city of Pilger into Cuming County.

As the tornado continued from Stanton County into Cuming county it increased in size and intensity. The tornado crossed the Elkhorn River about 3 miles west of Wisner and then crossed Highway 275 where significant damage was done to a cattle ranch. Over 300 head of cattle were lost here, as well as numerous outbuildings. The tornado continued to the north northeast, running nearly parallel to the Pilger tornado for a time impacting several farmsteads along 4 1/2 Road. As the tornado neared X Road along 4 1/2 Road it directly impacted two farmsteads where violent damage was done including completely destroying two homes down to the foundation, destroying outbuildings, lofting vehicles, and debarking trees. A 74-year-old Clarkson, Nebraska resident was killed when the vehicle he was driving was flipped by the tornado. The tornado crossed in front of the Pilger tornado and continued to the north into Wayne County about 7.25 miles north northwest of Wisner, NE.

This is a continuation of the Pilger tornado into Cuming County. In Cuming County the tornado impacted several rural residences along the path resulting in significant damage. The tornado was nearly paralleling another violent tornado to the east, and these tornadoes came in close proximity near X Road and 4 1/2 Road where the paths appear to have crossed with the tornado to the east continuing to the north, while this tornado continued northeast crossing into Wayne County about 7.15 miles north of Wisner, NE.

This is a continuation of the Pilger tornado that went through Stanton and Cuming into Wayne County. Once entering the county the tornado produced violent damage at two farmsteads where the houses were completely destroyed down to the foundation. The tornado finally started to narrow and weaken as a new tornado developed to the northeast. As this occurred the tornado narrowed and accelerated to the east northeast to the south of the new tornado before finally dissipating.

This tornado developed as the Pilger tornado was beginning to enter the rope stage. The Pilger tornado rotated around the south side of this developing tornado before completely dissipating. As this tornado moved north, along and to the east of State Highway 16 it grew in size and intensity. The tornado impacted numerous farmsteads along its path in eastern Wayne County producing varying degrees of damage, but the tornado was particularly violent in a two mile stretch between 853rd and 855th Roads where 4 houses were completely destroyed down to the foundation. The tornado also destroyed outbuildings, power poles, and debarked trees in these locations as well. The tornado became wrapped in rain as it moved to the east of Wakefield. The tornado entered Dixon County about 2.25 miles east of Wakefield.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:41 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:10 UTC and running to 02:56 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 0.15 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 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.

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:15 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.