EF2 tornado, Ft Crook to Pacific City, Nebraska, June 16, 2017

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

June 16, 2017

Touchdown

8:05 PM CDT (01:05 UTC)

Lifted

8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

14.0 miles (22.5 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Sarpy and Mills counties

Touchdown point

41.099, -95.961

Lift-off point

41.050, -95.792

Record number

1706161905-01

287 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• wind buckled in garage doors that allowed roof to fail.
• Roof peeled back of storage sheds.
• 3 homes with major roof loss.
• 3 large grain bins were blown nearly a half mile to the southeast. Full bins remained in place but were badly damaged and caved in.

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

A line of intense supercell thunderstorms developed over northeast Nebraska during the afternoon hours of Friday, June 16. These storms progressed toward the south and east through the evening, progressively morphing into a sweeping line of storms with embedded areas of both supercells and intense bow echoes. While the entire line produced widespread reports of wind damage and hail across a large portion of southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, the most intense activity produced hurricane-force winds of 80-110 mph, hail larger than golf balls, and several tornadoes. Damage was reported in several counties across southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, with significant damage to homes impacted by tornadoes and widespread, substantial tree and crop damage.

A line of intense supercell thunderstorms developed over northeast Nebraska during the afternoon hours of Friday, June 16. These storms progressed toward the south and east through the evening, progressively morphing into a sweeping line of storms with embedded areas of both supercells and intense bow echoes. While the entire line produced widespread reports of wind damage and hail across a large portion of southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, the most intense activity produced hurricane-force winds of 80-110 mph, hail larger than golf balls, and several tornadoes. Damage was reported in several counties across southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, with significant damage to homes impacted by tornadoes and widespread, substantial tree and crop damage.

A NWS Damage survey revealed an EF2 tornado. The tornado began in the Two Springs area of Bellevue and continued moving east southeast. The tornado moved through several different subdivisions producing extensive tree damage and roof damage. The worst struck area was the Hyda Hills subdivision where EF2 damage was done to homes. The tornado then crossed US Highway 75 and moved into the Normandy Hills subdivision where roof damage was extensive. The tornado continued southeast and crossed the Missouri River into Mills County, IA.

An EF1 tornado embedded within damaging thunderstorm winds started near the northeast corner of Willow Lakes Golf Course in Bellevue, then crossed US 75 into Offutt Air Force Base. Numerous Trees were uprooted or snapped, the roof of the Offutt Field House was damaged as well as some other buildings on the base. Some aircraft were moved because of the wind in the tornado and thunderstorm winds. This tornado then continued into Mills County, IA.

This is a continuation of the EF-2 tornado that went through Sarpy County, Nebraska. The tornado started on the Missouri River about 1/2 mile north of US Highway 34. The tornado proceeded southeast causing occasional tree damage until near the US 34/I-29 interchange , there was significant roof damage to several businesses. After crossing I-29, the tornado struck a trailer campground, blowing over or damaging trailers. The tornado then continued for another mile eastward, producing minor tree damage prior to dissipating.

This is a continuation of the tornado that struck Offutt Air Force Base in Sarpy County, Nebraska. The tornado crossed the Missouri River just east of a water treatment plant in Bellevue, Nebraska. The tornado continued moving southeast into rural, river bottom land in Iowa and then struck a farmstead on Gaston Avenue in Mills County. Several outbuildings and barns were damaged or destroyed. The farm home suffered roof damage. The tornado continued southeast and then tipped over a center pivot irrigation system before dissipating.

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

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:30 UTC and running to 02:22 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:05 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.

Offutt Afb/Belle (OFF), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:03 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 2017 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.