Unrated tornado, Axtell to Minden, Nebraska, April 29, 2022

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 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. Unratedthis tornado

   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

Unrated

Date

April 29, 2022

Touchdown

5:39 PM CDT (22:39 UTC)

Lifted

5:41 PM CDT (22:41 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kearney County

Touchdown point

40.420, -99.030

Lift-off point

40.410, -99.010

Record number

2204291639-01

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry.

• Approximate start from radar and reports
• Approximate end point from radar and reports.

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

A substantial round of severe thunderstorms rolled through South Central Nebraska on this Friday afternoon-early evening, causing a plethora of wind damage, scattered pockets of large hail (some very large) and four confirmed, short-track tornadoes (one rated EF-0, three EF-Unknown). For being such a widespread event (the majority of the 24 counties experienced at least limited severe weather) it was fairly quick-evolving and quick-hitting, as all local storms occurred within a 4.5-hour span between 3:30-8 p.m. CDT. Convective mode was a potent, but messy mix consisting primarily of an eastward-charging quasi-linear convective system (QLCS), but also a few briefly-discrete supercells that flared up just ahead of the QLCS (and were subsequently overtaken by it), along with at least one supercell structure embedded within the southern reaches of the QLCS. Digging deeper into storm reports, and starting with the four tornadoes, the first two (both with no known damage) touched down briefly in southwestern Harlan County, spawned by the first (and most isolated) supercell of the day. A short time later, another brief tornado (also no damage reported) was spotted in south central Kearney County, associated with a supercell that initiated just ahead of the approaching QLCS. The fourth tornado, though only rated EF-0, was the most noteworthy one as it developed along the far southern fringes of the QLCS in the Ruskin-Deshler area, overturning several pivots and damaging an outbuilding along a nearly five mile path. However, by far the biggest story of the day was significant straight-line wind damage. Though sporadic pockets of damage occurred in western counties, by far the most concentrated swaths focused within the following counties: Adams, Nuckolls, Thayer and especially Clay/Fillmore. This was due to a combination of the QLCS peaking in intensity over this area, along with it containing the embedded supercell. The most notable corridor of destructive winds took aim on southeastern Clay, southwestern Fillmore and northern Thayer counties. To mention just a few storm reports from this zone: at least 250 irrigation pivots toppled; several grain bins and a few outbuildings destroyed; unofficial mesonet-measured wind gusts as high as 91 MPH near Davenport and 78 MPH near Shickley. Outside of this worst-hit area (and farther north/west): a sampling of thunderstorm wind issues included: estimated 75 MPH gusts that derailed approximately 15 train cars near Shelton, estimated winds of 65-70 MPH in the Minden and Hastings areas (downed trees in Minden and a small-but-sturdy storage shed blown from behind a home into a front yard in south Hastings); measured gusts of 64 MPH as far north as Ord and 61 MPH as far west as Bertrand. Although taking a back seat to damaging winds due to being more localized, several large hail reports came in from various counties, including some very large stones to at least tennis ball size. The majority of the largest hail occurred with the first supercell of the day in Furnas County, including up to baseball size south of Holbrook and tennis ball size in Beaver City/Hollinger. However, the outright-biggest stone of the event measured 4 inches in diameter, plunging earthward several miles southwest of Minden. On the less extreme side of things, ping pong ball to golf ball size hail fell in various locations including Kearney, Minden and Alma. ||Taking a closer look at event evolution/timing, the first supercell initiated over northern Furnas County around 3:30 p.m. CDT, forming on a classic surface triple point...slightly north-northwest of strong low pressure (992 millibars) centered over north central Kansas. For a short time this storm was the only show locally, drifting slowly southeastward and dropping large hail and brief tornadoes. However, by 4:30 p.m. CDT, a north-south oriented linear system was already into Dawson/Gosper counties, driven eastward by strong convergence along an accelerating cold front. Between 5-6 p.m. CDT a few supercells/discrete multicells briefly developed over Kearney/Buffalo counties (including the one that produced the very large hail/brief tornado in Kearney County), but these storms were soon ingested by the surging QLCS. Between 6-7 p.m. CDT this complex surged across the Highway 281 corridor while a new cluster of severe convection flared up just ahead its southern edge mainly over Webster/Clay/Nuckolls counties. Finally, between 7-8 p.m. CDT, the southern portion of the QLCS (with an embedded supercell) took center stage, wreaking havoc upon the Clay/Fillmore/Thayer counties area with damaging winds before exiting the local domain into southeast Nebraska. During this same time frame, the northern portion of the QLCS (near/north of Interstate 80) prevailed weaker in nature and yielded few storm reports, but did drop quarter size hail near Shelby before exiting the coverage area. Finishing with a closer look at the meteorological situation, overall this was a prime springtime severe thunderstorm setup. In the mid-upper levels, a strong, slightly negatively-tilted shortwave trough ejected out of the Rockies and across the heart of Nebraska/northern Kansas over the course of the afternoon-evening. At the surface, the primary low pressure center drifted slowly eastward across northern Kansas, with a fairly well-defined warm front taking shape along the NE/KS border ahead of it and a sharp cold front/dryline combination surging in behind it. Despite a somewhat marginal thermodynamic environment featuring surface temperatures only in the 70s (F) and dewpoints only upper 50s-low 60s, steep mid-level lapse rates prompted healthy instability with mixed-layer CAPE peaking as high as 1500-3000 J/kg mainly along/south of the I-80 corridor. Deep-layer shear was modestly-strong (as high as 40-50 knots) and storms entered an increasingly-volatile low-level shear environment as they worked east of Highway 281, with southern portions of the QLCS encountering significant 0-1 kilometer storm relative helicity (SRH) of 200-300 m2/s2 (corresponding to the area of greatest wind damage). From a forecast perspective this was a well-anticipated event, as SPC's Day 3 Outlook (issued on the 27th) already introduced an Enhanced Risk of severe weather (level 3 of 5) for far southeast portions of South Central Nebraska. Then, on the morning of the 29th, roughly the southeast quadrant of the area was upgraded to Moderate Risk (level 4 of 5).

This tornado briefly touched down between Minden and Hildreth. Location and time was approximated from reports and radar. No damage was reported.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:26 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:17 UTC and running to 00:41 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:38 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 2022 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.