Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2018

EF0 tornado, Grant, Nebraska, June 6, 2018

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Perkins County on June 6, 2018, touching down at 7:24 PM MDT and reaching 10 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 6, 2018
Touchdown
7:24 PM MDT (01:24 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Perkins County
Touchdown point
40.900, -101.790
Lift-off point
40.900, -101.790
Record number
1806061924-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LBF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

  • Grain bin lofted and tossed into a parked Semi and came to rest upside down on a tractor. Nearby power poles were not damaged.

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

Severe storms developed in the Nebraska Panhandle during the early evening hours of June 6th. As this activity tracked east, a broken line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed. Hail up to the size of ping pong balls, thunderstorm wind gusts to 70 MPH and a brief tornado touchdown were reported. Heavy rain also fell leading to flash flooding in western Keith county.

Tornado briefly touched down in a field 5 miles northwest of Grant Nebraska. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

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 22:49 UTC and running to 04:51 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:49 UTC04:51 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLBF
00:53 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
01:13 UTC04:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryLBF
01:27 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningLBF
01:34 UTC02:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
01:58 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
02:34 UTC05:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryLBF
03:12 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:34 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.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

1.4 hours before the tornado, 103 km from the path. June 7, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2094 joules per kilogram, CIN -90, lifted condensation level 2401 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2018-06-07The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 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
2094 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-90 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3515 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2401 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z

10.6 hours after it, 103 km from the path. June 7, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-07Temperature 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 -91934, lifted condensation level 1759 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2018-06-07The 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 31 knots.1939Sfc1 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
-91934 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Ogallala (OGA), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:35 UTC87.356.3130° 9 kt1010.5
23:55 UTC86.556.5110° 4 kt1010.8VCTS
00:15 UTC84.458.8100° 6 kt1010.2TS
00:35 UTC84.25840° 7 kt151009.5VCTS
00:55 UTC8656.720° 10 kt231009.8-TSRA
01:15 UTC77.459280° 15 kt211011.9TSRA
01:35 UTC63.357300° 35 kt521012.5+TSRA
01:55 UTC6056.8280° 17 kt331015.9+TSRA
02:15 UTC330° 10 kt1015.6TSRA
02:35 UTC63580° 0 kt1015.6TSRA
02:55 UTC64.857.2250° 4 kt1015.9-TSRA
03:15 UTC63.560290° 4 kt1015.9-TSRA

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

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:26 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
01:24 UTCTORNADO5 Nw GrantPerkins, NEGOT A CALL SAYING THERE WAS A TORNADO ON THE GROUND
01:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 704 Se BruleKeith, NESCHILZ FARMS DAVIS WEATHER STATION.
01:34 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W BrandonPerkins, NEREPORTS OF 3 OVERTURNED PIVOTS AND 4 GRAIN BINS FLIPPED OVER. ESTIMATED WIND GUSTS OF 70 MPH.
01:34 UTCTSTM WND DMGVenangoPerkins, NEREPORT OF AN UPROOTED TREE WITH 4-5 INCH DIAMETER BRANCHES.
01:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 60OgallalaKeith, NE
02:13 UTCTSTM WND GST 605 S RoscoeKeith, NE
02:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 461 Ese ImperialChase, NEASOS KIML.
02:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD3 W BruleKeith, NEREPORT OF FLASH FLOODING ON HIGHWAY 30.
03:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGLamarChase, NEREPORTS OF POWER LINES DOWN IN LAMAR FROM SPOTTER IN IMPERIAL

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 6, 2018

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 65:43 PM MDTEF3Albany, WY11.3600
June 65:43 PM MDTEF2Albany, WY0.650

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.