Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2018

EF0 tornado, Madison, Nebraska, June 1, 2018

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Madison County on June 1, 2018, touching down at 9:59 PM CDT and reaching 50 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 1, 2018
Touchdown
9:59 PM CDT (02:59 UTC)
Lifted
10:00 PM CDT (03:00 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Madison County
Touchdown point
41.830, -97.610
Lift-off point
41.830, -97.608
Record number
1806012059-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong upper-level storm system tracked from the northern Rockies into northern High Plains with an associated surface low developing east across the Dakotas. Thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon and evening hours from north-central into eastern Nebraska along a trailing cold front with storms organizing into a bow-echo complex which produced numerous severe wind gusts and wind damage over northeast Nebraska, as well as a brief tornado near Madison, NE.

A brief touchdown was reported.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:54 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:57 UTC and running to 03:05 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:57 UTC03:05 UTCTornado WatchOAX
02:14 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX
02:29 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX
02:46 UTC03:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX
02:54 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningOAX
03:00 UTC03:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX
03:05 UTC04:25 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchOAX
03:14 UTC03:25 UTCTornado WarningOAX
03:32 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAX

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

3.0 hours before the tornado, 118 km from the path. June 2, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 839 joules per kilogram, CIN -325, lifted condensation level 2411 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-02The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
839 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-325 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2411 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

9.0 hours after it, 118 km from the path. June 2, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-02Temperature 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 -89844, lifted condensation level 1783 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-02The 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 -142 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 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
-89844 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1783 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-142 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-271 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:58 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:15 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 E ClearwaterAntelope, NEROAD SIGNS BEING BLOWN DOWN.
02:33 UTCTSTM WND DMGNelighAntelope, NEPOWER LINES DOWN. POWER OUT IN NELIGH.
02:39 UTCTSTM WND GST 602 N Meadow GroveMadison, NE
02:53 UTCTSTM WND DMGNewman GroveMadison, NESOCIAL MEDIA PHOTOS OF DOWNED TREES LARGER THAN ONE FOOT IN DIAMETER. TIME ESTIMATED.
02:59 UTCTORNADO8 W MadisonMadison, NE
03:07 UTCTSTM WND DMGAlbionBoone, NESMALL TREES AND LIMBS DOWN IN ALBION. SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES IN BOONE COUNTY. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR.
03:12 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W LindsayPlatte, NETREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
03:15 UTCTSTM WND GST 60LindsayPlatte, NE
03:18 UTCTSTM WND GST 583 Ssw NorfolkMadison, NE
03:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGTarnovPlatte, NEPOWER LINES DOWN.
03:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 604 Wnw ColumbusPlatte, NE
03:34 UTCTSTM WND GST 70StantonStanton, NE
03:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 604 Se CrestonPlatte, NE
03:39 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 Wnw ColumbusPlatte, NETREE LIMBS ALSO BEING BLOWN DOWN.
03:42 UTCTSTM WND GST 611 Ne ColumbusPlatte, NE
03:43 UTCTSTM WND GST 63ColumbusPlatte, NE
03:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw ColumbusPlatte, NENUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS THE CITY, POWER LINES DOWN, TRAMPOLINES WRAPPED AROUND POWER POLES.
03:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 Sw DuncanPlatte, NE
03:49 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene DuncanPlatte, NESEMI TRUCK OVERTURNED.
03:53 UTCTSTM WND GST 803 Ene DuncanPlatte, NE
03:56 UTCTSTM WND GST 60StantonStanton, NE
03:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGClarksonColfax, NEPOWER LINES DOWN.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 1, 2018

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 112:11 PM MDTEF2Washakie, WY1.0300$20,000
June 112:16 PM MDTEF2Johnson, WY1.0300
June 11:34 PM MDTEF0Campbell, WY1.025
June 11:41 PM MDTEF3Campbell, WY3.82002
June 11:55 PM MDTEF1Campbell, WY0.525$50,000
June 11:59 PM MDTEF1Campbell, WY4.650
June 14:26 PM MDTEF0Dunn, ND0.350
June 14:34 PM MDTEF2Dunn, ND3.5200$175,000
June 15:53 PM CDTEF0Morton, ND7.3100$5,000
June 15:55 PM CDTEF0McKenzie, ND0.350
June 16:25 PM CDTEF0Mercer, ND1.475
June 17:36 PM CDTEF0Walworth, SD0.110
June 18:43 PM CDTUnratedKent, TX0.030
June 19:14 PM CDTEF0Valley, NE0.040

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.