Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2016

EF0 tornado, Lorenzo, Nebraska, May 30, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Cheyenne County on May 30, 2016, touching down at 2:07 PM MDT and reaching 30 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
May 30, 2016
Touchdown
2:07 PM MDT (20:07 UTC)
Lifted
2:15 PM MDT (20:15 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cheyenne County
Touchdown point
41.009, -103.104
Lift-off point
41.003, -103.101
Record number
1605301407-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Three landspout tornadoes touched down in southwest Cheyenne County.

A landspout tornado touched down in open country four miles west-northwest of Lorenzo and was on the ground for five minutes before it lifted. No damage was reported.

A landspout tornado touched down in open country four miles southwest of Lorenzo and was on the ground for eight minutes before it lifted just north of the Colorado border. No damage was reported.

A landspout tornado touched down in open country three miles northwest of Lorenzo and was on the ground for ten minutes before it lifted. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:05 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:05 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningCYS
20:28 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningCYS

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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.

Denver, CO (KDEN), 12:00Z

8.1 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. May 30, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2016-05-30Temperature 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 -49981, lifted condensation level 2218 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2016-05-30The 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 36 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 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
-49981 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2218 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
54 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

Denver, CO (KDEN), 00:00Z

3.9 hours after it, 127 km from the path. May 31, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2016-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 5 joules per kilogram, CIN -178, lifted condensation level 2638 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2016-05-31The 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 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-178 J/kg
Surface CAPE
473 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2638 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Sidney (SNY), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:10 UTC220° 8 kt1014.6
18:15 UTC300° 6 kt1014.6
18:20 UTC190° 5 kt1014.2
18:25 UTC220° 7 kt1014.2
18:30 UTC240° 7 kt1014.2
18:35 UTC160° 5 kt1014.2
18:40 UTC210° 7 kt1014.2
18:45 UTC190° 6 kt1014.2
18:50 UTC160° 11 kt1014.2
18:53 UTC7854180° 10 kt1014.2
18:55 UTC170° 10 kt1014.2
19:00 UTC150° 11 kt1014.2
19:05 UTC160° 13 kt1014.2
19:10 UTC160° 13 kt1014.2
19:15 UTC160° 12 kt1013.9
19:20 UTC160° 11 kt1013.9
19:25 UTC150° 11 kt1013.9
19:30 UTC150° 10 kt1013.5
19:35 UTC140° 9 kt1013.5
19:40 UTC130° 7 kt1013.5
19:45 UTC160° 10 kt1013.2
19:50 UTC150° 5 kt1013.2
19:53 UTC7647 4 kt1013.2
19:55 UTC180° 5 kt1013.5
20:00 UTC150° 5 kt1013.2
20:05 UTC160° 7 kt1013.5
20:10 UTC120° 5 kt1013.2
20:12 UTC7451120° 4 kt1013.5TS
20:15 UTC100° 3 kt1013.5
20:20 UTC40° 3 kt1013.5
20:25 UTC360° 7 kt1013.5
20:30 UTC20° 6 kt1013.5
20:35 UTC20° 7 kt1013.5
20:40 UTC 1013.9
20:50 UTC310° 17 kt1014.6
20:53 UTC6548300° 20 kt1014.6-TSRA
20:55 UTC 1014.6-RA
21:00 UTC6049310° 20 kt261014.6-TSRA
21:05 UTC300° 26 kt1014.9RA
21:10 UTC5846300° 25 kt361015.2TSRA
21:21 UTC5847270° 27 kt351016.6TSRA
21:25 UTC280° 23 kt1016.6-RA
21:30 UTC 1016.6-RA
21:45 UTC310° 15 kt1017.6-RA
21:50 UTC320° 10 kt1016.9-RA
21:53 UTC5648350° 9 kt1016.3-TSRA
22:00 UTC20° 13 kt1014.9-RA
22:02 UTC574830° 11 kt1014.6VCTS -RA

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

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:08 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
20:00 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 S BrownsonCheyenne, NESEVERAL FUNNEL CLOUDS REPORTED BY PUBLIC AND TRAINED SPOTTERS.
20:00 UTCTORNADO4 Wnw LorenzoCheyenne, NELANDSPOUT TORNADO REPORTED BY STORM CHASER.
20:04 UTCTORNADO2 S BrownsonCheyenne, NELANDSPOUT TORNADO REPORTED BY EMERGENCY MANAGER.
20:19 UTCTORNADO2 S BrownsonCheyenne, NETWO FUNNELS AND A TORNADO VISIBLE ON LIVE FEED.
20:20 UTCTORNADO3 Nw LorenzoCheyenne, NELANDSPOUT TORNADO REPORTED BY STORM CHASER.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 30, 2016

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 309:54 AM CDTEF0San Patricio, TX0.625$50,000
May 302:05 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, NE0.830
May 302:18 PM MDTEF1Logan, CO4.5100
May 302:20 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, NE1.330
May 306:14 PM CDTEF0Grundy, MO0.010
May 306:29 PM CDTEF0Grundy, MO0.010

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.