Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2014

EF0 tornado, Gordon, Nebraska, June 6, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Sheridan County on June 6, 2014, touching down at 12:05 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.

  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 6, 2014
Touchdown
12:05 PM MDT (18:05 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sheridan County
Touchdown point
42.780, -102.160
Lift-off point
42.780, -102.160
Record number
1406061205-01

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 1105MST, the Gordon Fire Department storm spotters reported that a tornado briefly touched down 3 miles southeast of Gordon. Spotters observed a tarp that was lifted and wrapped around a power pole (DI 26, DOD 1). Based on spotter observations, the average path width was 40 yards.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:52 UTC18:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
18:12 UTC18:23 UTCTornado WarningLBF
18:49 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLBF

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

6.1 hours before the tornado, 155 km from the path. June 6, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2014-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -88170, lifted condensation level 691 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2014-06-06The 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 100 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 00:00Z

5.9 hours after it, 155 km from the path. June 7, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2014-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 475 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2014-06-07The 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 52 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 159 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:04 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
17:41 UTCHAIL 0.56 S EliCherry, NE
17:41 UTCHAIL 1.7510 Sse GordonSheridan, NEFEW HAIL STONES TO SIZE OF GOLF BALLS. ON EDGE OF STORM.
18:05 UTCTORNADO3 Se GordonSheridan, NEFIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED THE ONLY DAMAGE WAS WEEDS AND A TARP WHICH WRAPPED AROUND A POWER LINE. NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS WERE NOTED. DELAYED REPORT FROM JUNE 6TH.
18:05 UTCTORNADO3 Se GordonSheridan, NETRAINED SPOTTERS WITH THE GORDON FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN.
18:10 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 E GordonSheridan, NEFUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED BY THE GORDON FIRE DEPARTMENT MOVING NORTHEAST.
18:30 UTCHAIL 14 S EliCherry, NE
19:41 UTCHAIL 1.754 S EliCherry, NEPEA SIZE TO GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL ONGOING.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 61:00 PM MDTEF0Cherry, NE0.240
June 62:35 PM CDTEF1Independence, AR3.3752$250,000
June 61:51 PM MDTEF1Las Animas, CO8.64001$5,000
June 61:55 PM MDTEF0Kimball, NE0.925
June 61:56 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
June 63:00 PM CDTEF1Jackson, AR2.050$40,000
June 62:20 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.5100
June 62:46 PM MDTEF1Las Animas, CO1.4100$3,000
June 62:53 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick, CO0.1100
June 64:25 PM MDTEF0Colfax, NM0.8100
June 65:35 PM MDTEF0Curry, NM1.250
June 66:47 PM CDTEF0Kearny, KS0.525
June 66:58 PM CDTEF0Kearny, KS0.625
June 66:59 PM CDTEF0Kearny, KS0.325
June 67:15 PM CDTEF0Hartley, TX2.525
June 68:46 PM EDTEF0Bamberg, SC0.840$4,000
June 67:52 PM CDTEF0Ochiltree, TX1.670

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.