Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2014
EF0 tornado, Cody, Nebraska, June 6, 2014
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Cherry County on June 6, 2014, touching down at 1:00 PM MDT and reaching 40 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 6, 2014
- Touchdown
- 1:00 PM MDT (19:00 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 40 yards (37 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Cherry County
- Touchdown point
- 42.943, -101.283
- Lift-off point
- 42.943, -101.283
- Record number
- 1406061300-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms developed along a stationary front across Sheridan and Cherry County that produced large hail and two brief tornadoes. Additional severe thunderstorms developed in north central Nebraska during the afternoon and developed south into west central Nebraska by early evening.
At 1200MST, a tornado briefly touched down one mile west of Cody on top of a hill. No damage was reported. Average path width was estimated at 40 yards.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
20 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:40 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:49 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:52 UTC | 18:35 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 18:12 UTC | 18:35 UTC | Tornado Warning | LBF |
| 18:17 UTC | 18:57 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 18:18 UTC | 19:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 18:40 UTC | 19:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LBF |
| 18:49 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LBF |
| 19:01 UTC | 19:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 19:15 UTC | 20:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 19:49 UTC | 20:07 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 19:55 UTC | 20:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 20:01 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LBF |
| 20:45 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
| 21:20 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LBF |
| 21:30 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:30 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.
Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 12:00Z
7.0 hours before the tornado, 180 km from the path. June 6, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -88170 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 691 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 100 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 585 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 00:00Z
5.0 hours after it, 180 km from the path. June 7, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 475 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 8 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 52 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The surface observations
Valentine (VTN), 61 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:52 UTC | 80 | 53 | 140° 19 kt | 23 | 1012.9 | |
| 18:52 UTC | 77 | 53 | 130° 11 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 19:52 UTC | 72 | 57 | 100° 13 kt | 1011.9 | -RA | |
| 20:28 UTC | 63 | 59 | 310° 26 kt | 42 | 1012.5 | +RA BR |
| 20:35 UTC | 60 | 59 | 280° 31 kt | 39 | 1013.5 | +RA BR |
| 20:43 UTC | 58 | 58 | 290° 15 kt | 36 | 1015.6 | +RA FG |
| 20:52 UTC | 58 | 58 | 30° 19 kt | 22 | 1014.6 | +RA FG |
| 20:59 UTC | 60 | 59 | 20° 21 kt | 1013.5 | +RA FG |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:58 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:41 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 6 S Eli | Cherry, NE | |
| 18:30 UTC | HAIL 1 | 4 S Eli | Cherry, NE | |
| 19:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 E Cody | Cherry, NE | A POWER POLE WAS SNAPPED APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF MILE EAST OF CODY...CAUSING A SEVERAL HOUR POWER OUTAGE IN CODY. DELAYED REPORT FROM JUNE 6TH. |
| 19:00 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 W Cody | Cherry, NE | |
| 19:00 UTC | TORNADO | Cody | Cherry, NE | DELAYED REPORT FROM JUNE 6TH. BRIEF TORNADO OCCURRED ONE MILE WEST OF CODY. SHORT LIVED TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON TOP OF A SANDHILL WITH NO DAMAGE NOTED. CORRECTED TIME OF OCCURRENCE BY DIRECT WITNESS. |
| 19:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Cody | Cherry, NE | |
| 19:41 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 4 S Eli | Cherry, NE | PEA SIZE TO GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL ONGOING. |
| 20:00 UTC | HAIL 2 | 11 Wsw Valentine | Cherry, NE | |
| 20:15 UTC | TORNADO | Cody | Cherry, NE | DELAYED REPORT OF TORNADO NEAR CODY. TIME IS APPROXIMATE. NO DAMAGE IS KNOWN AT THIS TIME. |
| 21:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Cody | Cherry, NE | FLOODING IN THE CITY OF CODY. CODY PARK WAS FLOODED WITH WATER BACKING INTO THE CITY PUMP STATION. DELAYED REPORT. |
| 22:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 15 W Valentine | Cherry, NE | FULL WASHOUT OF A PORTION OF GERMAN SETTLEMENT ROAD. MANY ROADS UNDERWATER WITH MULTIPLE PARTIAL WASHOUTS OF ROADS WEST OF VALENTINE. |
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 6, 2014
17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 6 | 12:05 PM MDT | EF0 | Sheridan, NE | 0.2 | 40 | |||
| June 6 | 2:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Independence, AR | 3.3 | 75 | 2 | $250,000 | |
| June 6 | 1:51 PM MDT | EF1 | Las Animas, CO | 8.6 | 400 | 1 | $5,000 | |
| June 6 | 1:55 PM MDT | EF0 | Kimball, NE | 0.9 | 25 | |||
| June 6 | 1:56 PM MDT | EF0 | Weld, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 6 | 3:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Jackson, AR | 2.0 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| June 6 | 2:20 PM MDT | EF0 | Weld, CO | 0.5 | 100 | |||
| June 6 | 2:46 PM MDT | EF1 | Las Animas, CO | 1.4 | 100 | $3,000 | ||
| June 6 | 2:53 PM MDT | EF0 | Sedgwick, CO | 0.1 | 100 | |||
| June 6 | 4:25 PM MDT | EF0 | Colfax, NM | 0.8 | 100 | |||
| June 6 | 5:35 PM MDT | EF0 | Curry, NM | 1.2 | 50 | |||
| June 6 | 6:47 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 6 | 6:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 0.6 | 25 | |||
| June 6 | 6:59 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 0.3 | 25 | |||
| June 6 | 7:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Hartley, TX | 2.5 | 25 | |||
| June 6 | 8:46 PM EDT | EF0 | Bamberg, SC | 0.8 | 40 | $4,000 | ||
| June 6 | 7:52 PM CDT | EF0 | Ochiltree, TX | 1.6 | 70 |
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.