EF1 tornado, Ceresco to Ithaca, Nebraska, December 15, 2021

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

December 15, 2021

Touchdown

3:46 PM CST (21:46 UTC)

Lifted

3:47 PM CST (21:47 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Saunders County

Touchdown point

41.180, -96.550

Lift-off point

41.190, -96.540

Record number

2112151546-01

32 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 112 mph.

• Convergent tree damage pattern
• Grain bin dented, empty. But it was slightly moved off its foundation.
• Several pines snapped near trunk. pointed same direction.
• Roof panels on east side blown off.

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

A low pressure system brought strong (both thunderstorm, and non-thunderstorm) winds, tornadoes, dust, snow, and record temperatures into eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. The event was determined to be a derecho meeting the criteria of wind damage extending more than 250 miles, including wind gusts of at least 58 mph and numerous gusts of at least 75 mph.

A tornado developed just north of the Jack Sinn Memorial Wildlife Management area, producing damage to farm buildings and then moving off toward the northeast, and eventually the north northeast as observed by a storm chaser. The tornado caused damage to several barns and outbuildings along the track, including complete destruction of barns near Road 11 and Road F. The tornado also overturned several pivot irrigation systems and snapped wooden power poles at multiple locations, including numerous poles along Highway 92 which prompted a multi-day closure of the highway. The tornado also impacted the University of Nebraska Farm where a video was taken of the small fast-moving tornado and several buildings sustained damage. The tornado ended 1 mile northwest of Yutan where a farm outbuilding was blown for a significant distance and trees were damage. Significant downburst winds on the east flank of the tornado circulation were evident on radar and damage to pivot irrigation systems and other structures throughout the duration of the tornado.

A short track EF-1 tornado began just west of CR 13 and traveled over a farmstead. This tornado caused substantial damage to several outbuildings and a grain bin. A cattle feeder that was secured to the ground via 3-foot-deep concrete posts was lifted and thrown 250 feet. The tornado was short lived with only tree damage observed at the end of the track.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:45 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:23 UTC and running to 22:18 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:28 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.

Wahoo (AHQ), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:48 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 2021 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

124 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 125 of them

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.