Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2018

EF0 tornado, Fairmont, Nebraska, June 24, 2018

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Fillmore County on June 24, 2018, touching down at 7:14 PM CDT and reaching 35 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 24, 2018
Touchdown
7:14 PM CDT (00:14 UTC)
Lifted
7:28 PM CDT (00:28 UTC)
On the ground
14 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
35 yards (32 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Fillmore County
Touchdown point
40.615, -97.519
Lift-off point
40.624, -97.514
Record number
1806241814-01

The damage survey

10 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 65 mph.

  • Start point porviding by local storm spotter.
  • Approximate end point from storm spotter
  • Location and time from storm spotter in the area.
  • Approximate end location of landspout per spotter reports.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

If not for several weak landspout tornadoes that touched down near Fairmont in Fillmore County on this Sunday evening, this would have been a relatively low-key weather day for South Central Nebraska, featuring mainly just locally heavy rainfall across various parts of the area. However, this cluster of four landspouts (all rated EF-0) generated plenty of attention between 7-8 p.m. CDT as they descended intermittently and mostly-harmlessly into farm fields a few miles southeast through southwest of Fairmont. They were highly-visible, with some sightings occurring from 20+ miles away, and were also well-documented on video by a storm chaser. The parent storm remained nearly stationary over parts of northern Fillmore County for almost three hours, promoting an unofficial report of 3.77 of rain in Exeter, along with short-term street flooding and a brief round of quarter size hail. While other storms developed along and near the same frontal boundary during the evening, the only other severe weather report consisted of estimated 60 MPH winds west of Gresham.||For the majority of South Central Nebraska, localized heavy rain was the primary issue during the 24-hour period between the afternoon of the 24th and the afternoon of the 25th, with many locations tallying 1-3, and a few spots higher. A few of the highest official totals from NWS and CoCoRaHS observers featured: 4.50 near Rockville, 4.32 near Genoa and 3.80 near Gresham. However, totals over 3 were certainly the exception within the area as a whole, and there were few known flooding impacts.||Taking a closer look at the meteorological background behind the Fillmore County landspouts, the mesoscale environment appeared at least modestly-supportive of such activity. In the big picture of the mid-upper levels, forcing/lift was increasing as a well-defined shortwave trough approached from the Central High Plains. In the lower-levels, the key feature/focus was a weak, northeast-southwest oriented cold front aligned from central Kansas to eastern Nebraska, which the Fillmore County storm developed directly on. While deep-layer shear was fairly weak (around 20 knots), mixed-layer CAPE averaged 1000-2000 J/kg, promoting vigorous updrafts. More importantly for landspout formation, mesoscale analysis revealed a modest overlap of 0-3 kilometer (low level) CAPE and surface vorticity provided by the weak boundary.

A weak tornado with a maximum wind speed of 60 mph occurred. The tornado was a landspout in nature, and was one of four to occur within a few miles of Fairmont.

A weak tornado with a maximum wind speed of 65 mph occurred. The tornado was a landspout in nature, and was one of four to occur within a few miles of Fairmont.

A weak tornado with a maximum wind speed of 60 mph occurred. The tornado was a landspout in nature, and was one of four to occur within a few miles of Fairmont.

A weak tornado occurred with a maximum wind speed of 65 mph. The tornado was a landspout in nature, and was one of four to occur within a few miles of Fairmont.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 24, 6:28 PM CDT, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 24, 6:28 PM CDT, 46 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Hastings NE
628 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Monday)
Issued at 203 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

We are still anticipating scattered to widespread rain and
thunderstorms to impact the area through this evening and
overnight, forced by an approaching upper low. As of early
afternoon, we've started to see an increase in convection across
Colorado and western Nebraska, and this should generally propagate
eastward into the forecast area. Locally, skies have remained
pretty overcast along and west of Highway 281. Our current
thinking is that strong to severe storms may develop west of the
area, and briefly pose a severe threat for western portions of the
forecast area before weakening as they move into the more stable
airmass overhead.

At the same time, southeastern portions of the forecast area have
remained mostly cloud free, and we will start to see a few
isolated thunderstorms in this area as well. The severe threat
with these storms is relatively low...at least for now...as deep-
layer shear values are only 10-15kts currently. Expect shear and
storm organization/strength to increase this evening as the trough
enhances the upper level flow.

Expect fairly widespread showers and storms to continue tonight
into Monday morning as the upper low moves overhead. By Monday
afternoon, most of the area will be on the west side of the
surface low, but areas north and east of the tri-cities may still
see enough of a southeasterly wind component for a few strong to
severe storms in the afternoon and early evening. Of course, like
today, this is dependent on remnant cloud cover clearing
sufficiently.

.LONG TERM...(Monday night through Sunday)
Issued at 203 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

A few wraparound showers may continue into Monday night or even
Tuesday morning before the cutoff low moves out of the area and
the pattern shifts back to ridging overhead.

We will begin the transition back to a hot and dry pattern on
Tuesday as high temperatures return to the upper 80s and low 90s.
We should see the hottest temperatures Wednesday through Friday as
the 500mb ridge is at its peak and we see increasing southerly
surface flow.

High temperatures are expected to reach the mid 90s to low 100s each
day, with heat index values form the upper 90s to mid 100s. At this
time, it appears that Wednesday will be the hottest day...especially
considering that winds will remain relatively light.

The next trough is forecast to bring a slight cooldown to the area,
along with small chances for thunderstorms Friday night into
Saturday.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 00Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS through 00Z Monday)
Issued at 628 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

Tricky situation tonight with thunderstorms expected to persist
throughout a majority of the TAF valid time. Thunderstorms are
present west/northwest of the KEAR/KGRI terminals and are expected
to move across the terminals this evening. The upper low driving
this activity is expected to move across the area and wrap up
across central Nebraska. This will cause ceilings to drop and
showers and thunder to persist through much of the forecast. MVFR
ceilings are expected overnight and to persist during the day
tomorrow.

&&

.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...None.
KS...None.
&&

SHORT TERM...Mangels
LONG TERM...Mangels
AVIATION...Billings Wright
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 24, 2:29 PM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Hastings NE
229 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-
251200-
Phillips-Smith-Jewell-Rooks-Osborne-Mitchell-Valley-Greeley-Nance-
Sherman-Howard-Merrick-Polk-Dawson-Buffalo-Hall-Hamilton-York-
Gosper-Phelps-Kearney-Adams-Clay-Fillmore-Furnas-Harlan-Franklin-
Webster-Nuckolls-Thayer-
229 PM CDT Sun Jun 24 2018

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and
portions of north central Kansas.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight.

Thunderstorms are likely across the area this evening into
tonight. Some storms could be severe with up to quarter size hail
and wind gusts to 60 MPH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday.

A few isolated thunderstorms could occur Monday afternoon and
evening. One or two of these storms might produce hail to the size
of quarters and wind gusts near 50 mph northeast of a line from
Ord to York.

Hot weather returns to the area by the middle of the week, and
Heat Index values are expected to range from 100 to 105 degrees
Wednesday through Friday.

Small chances for thunderstorms return Friday night into Saturday.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed for portions of the area this
evening.

&&

More information may be obtained at the following web page:
   https://www.weather.gov/hastings

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 24, 5:09 PM CDT, 2 hours 5 minutes before
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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

0.2 hours before the tornado, 124 km from the path. June 25, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2261 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 1209 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-25The 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 55 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 22 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
2261 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3527 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1209 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
8.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

11.8 hours after it, 124 km from the path. June 25, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 118 joules per kilogram, CIN -61, lifted condensation level 796 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-25The 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 -89 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 9 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
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-61 J/kg
Surface CAPE
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
796 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

York (JYR), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:13 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.

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 24, 2018

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2410:18 AM MDTEF0Routt, CO0.330
June 2411:14 AM MDTEF0Jackson, CO0.050
June 243:12 PM CDTEF0Pontotoc, OK0.210$1,000
June 243:51 PM CDTEF0Lincoln, MN0.450
June 245:10 PM CDTEF0Roberts, SD0.05
June 247:12 PM CDTEF0Fillmore, NE0.125
June 247:17 PM CDTEF0Fillmore, NE0.225
June 247:43 PM CDTEF0Fillmore, NE0.735

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.