EF3 tornado, Grafton to Garland, Nebraska, May 11, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 11, 2014

Touchdown

4:57 PM CDT (21:57 UTC)

Lifted

5:28 PM CDT (22:28 UTC)

On the ground

31 minutes

Path length

19.1 miles (30.8 km)

Path width

2,640 yards (2414 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$11 million

Counties

Fillmore, York and Seward counties

Touchdown point

40.692, -97.453

Lift-off point

40.819, -97.128

Record number

1405111557-01

292 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR and NWS GID and NWS OAX and NWS OAXx, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 152 mph.

• roof of structure appears damaged. can't access. se edge Cwa.
• east side of road 25 in Oma Cwa.
• very large power lines across road. at least 4 towers snapped 100 yards apart.
• partial loss of roof and feed bin toppled. several trees snapped. garage door facing west on outbuilding may have failed.

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

Multiple thunderstorms formed along and southeast of a line from Red Cloud to York on this Sunday afternoon. However, most of the severe weather was produced by a single supercell. This was the first and most intense storm of the day and it formed over Webster county around 2:30 p.m. CDT. This storm took full advantage of an extremely favorable environment, quickly becoming severe and producing at least one brief, weak tornado just southwest of Glenvil. The storm continued northeast producing several more tornadoes, two of which resulted in a maximum damage rating of EF-3. One of these tornadoes occurred over Clay and Fillmore counties and the other subsequently occurred over Fillmore and Seward counties. The first of these EF-3 tornadoes was on the ground for nearly 22 miles. Damage surveys, photos and video confirmed that this storm produced at least 6 other tornadoes, 3 rated EF-0, 2 rated EF-1 and 1 rated EF-2. One of the EF-1 tornadoes was anticyclonic and touched down just north of Fairmont. To the left of these tornadoes, severe hail was common. The largest hail observed was the size of tennis balls in Glenvil. Large swaths of damaging winds, from the rear flank downdraft, accompanied the tornadoes to their south and southeast. Tornado and wind damage was extensive to trees, power poles, farm buildings including grain bins, and a few homes. Over 200 irrigation pivots were overturned and/or twisted. Multiple farmsteads also endured damage, including the loss of a new machine shed. By 5:30 p.m., this storm had moved into eastern Nebraska. Other storms developed in its wake, but produced no severe weather. ||A very long surface front extended from New England, through the Ohio Valley, across the Central Plains and into the Desert Southwest. Portions of this front were stationary while others were being modulated by several waves of low pressure. The front lifted northward to the Kansas-Nebraska border by daybreak. One low ejected out of Colorado and moved east along the front through northern Kansas during the day. This supercell formed just northeast of this low on the immediate cool side of the front. The upper-level flow featured an amplified western trough and eastern ridge. A closed low was at the base of the trough over the Four Corners region. These storms initiated with the aid of a shortwave trough that ejected into the Central Plains ahead of this low. A strong 100 knot jet streak was at the base of the trough at 300 mb, placing the Central Plains in the favorable left front quadrant. An expansive stratus cloud deck, on the cool side of the front, resulted in a substantial temperature gradient across the front, with afternoon temperatures in the 40s and 50s across much of Nebraska to the mid 80s and low 90s over northern Kansas. This resulted in a tight instability gradient with MLCAPE of 2000 J/kg right along the front. Winds were strong throughout the column. The ejecting low pressure center, combined with the front, resulted in significantly backed winds, enhancing low-level shear. 0-1 km SRH was roughly 300 m2/s2, with 0-3 km SRH 400-600 m2/s2. The environment was very favorable for severe storms and tornadoes.

One long-tracked supercell thunderstorm, and several other shorter-lived storms spawned tornadoes across eastern Nebraska during the late afternoon and evening hours of May 11th. The storms developed near the intersection of a warm front and dry-line/cold front in south central Nebraska then tracked northeast along the warm front toward the Lincoln and Omaha areas. Conditions in the area were very unstable with temperatures in the 80s to around 90 south of the warm front with dew point temperatures in the 60s. In total 12 tornadoes were recorded in the Omaha/Valley warning area with several others in the Hastings forecast area. The storms also produced very heavy rainfall which caused some flooding, mostly north through west and southwest of Lincoln.

This tornado traveled rural areas of northern Fillmore County, bumping the York County line along the way. It touched down a few miles north-northwest of Grafton and lifted a few miles north-northeast of Fairmont. One home suffered damage when part of the roof was torn away, while another older home was pushed approximately 30 feet off of its foundation. There was widespread power pole and tree damage, with some trees containing debris from grain bins, and a number of irrigation pivots were overturned. The peak wind with this tornado was estimated to be 120 MPH. South of the main tornado track, strong rear flank downdraft winds resulted in additional power pole and irrigation pivot damage, and an outbuilding suffered damage near Highway 81 north of Fairmont.

This tornado was the second to be rated an EF3 that affected south central Nebraska, starting in far northern Fillmore County before traversing a portion of York County and passing north of Cordova in Seward County. Damage along the track in Fillmore County was widespread, including one home which was totally destroyed. All 6 occupants took shelter in the basement. Another home suffered less significant damage, but outbuildings on the same property were destroyed. Also along the path of this tornado, and to the south of the path where rear flank downdraft winds occurred, numerous irrigation pivots were overturned, power poles were broken as well as trees and grain bins either damaged or destroyed. The strongest and widest time of this tornado occurred in Seward County, with a peak wind estimated to be 140 MPH and a maximum width of 2,640 yards, or 1.5 miles.

This is a continuation of the tornado that started in northern Fillmore County. This tornado was the second to be rated an EF3 that affected south central Nebraska, starting in far northern Fillmore County before traversing a portion of York County and passing north of Cordova in Seward County. Damage along the track in Fillmore County was widespread, including one home which was totally destroyed. All 6 occupants took shelter in the basement. Another home suffered less significant damage, but outbuildings on the same property were destroyed. Also along the path of this tornado, and to the south of the path where rear flank downdraft winds occurred, numerous irrigation pivots were overturned, power poles were broken as well as trees and grain bins either damaged or destroyed. The strongest and widest time of this tornado occurred in Seward County, with a peak wind estimated to be 140 MPH and a maximum width of 2,640 yards, or 1.5 miles.

This tornado crossed into Seward county from York county and was the most intense tornado during this outbreak with a track of around 14 miles in Seward county. The tornado moved just north of the city of Cordova crossing State Highway 76A. Here the tornado impacted several rural residents. High end EF2 damage was done to one brick home where the roof was completely removed and some external walls were knocked down. The tornado continued northeast crossing Yankee Hill Rd less than a mile from State Highway 76A, and this is where the most significant damage occurred. Here a well built brick home had the roof completely removed, exterior walls knocked down, and a couple of interior walls downed as well. The tornado continued northeast while widening, but generally decreasing in intensity as it crossed Denton and Old Cheney Roads. The tornado reached its maximum width to the southwest of Beaver Crossing before moving directly into town. Widespread damage was observed in Beaver Crossing with nearly every structure in town sustaining some damage. In the city scattered EF2 damage was noted with several structures having thier roofs removed. Otherwise most of the damage was tree, power line and outbuildings being destroyed. The tornado exited Beaver Crossing and moved northeast while decreasing in width and intensity eventually dissipating less than 1 mile south of Interstate 80.

This tornado developed rapidly after the Beaver Crossing tornado as the supercell continued to move northeast. The tornado quickly strengthened to EF2 and completed destroyed several large outbuildings as it crossed Pioneers and Van Dorn Roads. The tornado turned more northeast as it crossed A street downing power lines and snapping trees. The tornado crossed Interstate 80 about a half mile west of the of the Highway 15 interchange where a semi tractor trailer was overturned. The tornado weakened and turned east as it moved north of the Interstate and produced mainly minor tree and power line damage.

This tornado initially touched down southwest of Garland and was from the same supercell thunderstorm that produced the EF3 tornado that hit Beaver Crossing. Soon after this tornado developed it moved through a newly developed areas of homes along Sunset Rd to the southwest of Garland. Here the tornado was responsible for completely destroying several well built large outbuildings. In addition the tornado damaged two homes where the roofs were partially removed, as well downing numerous trees in this area. The tornado continued east along US Highway 34 while weakening, but still damaging small outbuildings and breaking tree limbs.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:39 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:22 UTC and running to 02:49 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), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 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.