Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2022
Unrated tornado, Blue Spgs to Barneston, Nebraska, June 11, 2022
From Blue Spgs to Barneston, this Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Gage County on June 11, 2022, touching down at 5:18 PM CDT and reaching 20 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- Unrated
- Date
- June 11, 2022
- Touchdown
- 5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.1 km)
- Path width
- 20 yards (18 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Gage County
- Touchdown point
- 40.140, -96.610
- Lift-off point
- 40.140, -96.610
- Record number
- 2206111618-01
The damage survey
6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX and NWS TOP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 104 mph.
- Eastern extent of South Wymore
- Power pole down could be end point of Nebraska tornado
- Potential start point of tornado that moves SSW toward marysville trees down pier lines down
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
An enhanced risk for severe weather resulted in a couple of tornadoes including a confirmed EF1 that started in Gage County and finished in Marshall County in Kansas. Additionally, storms near Beatrice, NE produced massive 5 inch hail.
Trained spotter reported a brief touch down of a tornado east of Blue Springs.
The tornado started approximately 7 miles south-southwest of Wymore, NE, doing damage to trees just west of S 23 Rd between E Walnut Rd and Willow Rd. The tornado continued south-southeastward, damaging the roof of a residence and barn, as well as power poles along Willow Rd. The track then turned more southeast, crossing State Line Rd into Marshall County, KS, between 8th Rd and S 36 Rd where damage to farm outbuildings was noted. The tornado continued southeast and caused damage to power poles along US Highway 77 just south of Bison Rd before lifting shortly thereafter.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
36 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:42 UTC, 36 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:39 UTC and running to 00:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:39 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Watch | OAX |
| 20:59 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:03 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:32 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 21:38 UTC | 21:50 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:42 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 21:44 UTC | 22:17 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 22:09 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 22:13 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 22:36 UTC | 02:21 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | OAX |
| 22:51 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
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 19:54 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), 12:00Z
10.3 hours before the tornado, 133 km from the path. June 11, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -82070 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1717 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 165 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 243 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.0 K/km
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z
1.7 hours after it, 133 km from the path. June 12, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1047 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -102 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2264 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1198 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 235 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 8.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.1 K/km
The surface observations
Beatrice Municip (BIE), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:35 UTC | 90.5 | 71 | 160° 10 kt | 16 | 1004.1 | |
| 20:55 UTC | 88.7 | 70.3 | 130° 9 kt | 1003 | ||
| 21:15 UTC | 85 | 71.8 | 110° 5 kt | 1002 | +TSRA | |
| 21:35 UTC | 74 | 70.5 | 30° 17 kt | 24 | 1003.4 | +TSRA |
| 21:55 UTC | 74 | 72 | 0° 0 kt | 1003.4 | -TSRA | |
| 22:15 UTC | 71 | 70.5 | 0° 0 kt | 1002.7 | +TSRA | |
| 22:35 UTC | 70.7 | 70 | 0° 0 kt | 1003.7 | +TSRA | |
| 22:55 UTC | 70.7 | 70 | 0° 0 kt | 1004.1 | -TSRA | |
| 23:15 UTC | 73 | 72 | 0° 0 kt | 1003 | VCTS | |
| 23:35 UTC | 73 | 68 | 0° 0 kt | 1002.7 | VCTS | |
| 23:55 UTC | 73 | 65.5 | 0° 0 kt | 1002.7 | VCTS | |
| 00:15 UTC | 74 | 65.5 | 0° 0 kt | 1001.7 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:16 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:23 UTC | HAIL 2 | 1 N Beatrice | Gage, NE | |
| 21:23 UTC | HAIL 3 | 1 N Beatrice | Gage, NE | CORRECTS PREVIOUS HAIL REPORT FROM 1 N BEATRICE. |
| 21:27 UTC | HAIL 3.75 | 1 N Beatrice | Gage, NE | |
| 21:28 UTC | HAIL 5 | Beatrice | Gage, NE | PHOTO SENT TO BROADCAST MEDIA. |
| 21:29 UTC | HAIL 3.75 | 1 Nne Beatrice | Gage, NE | GRAPEFRUIT- (3.75 IN.). |
| 21:39 UTC | HAIL 3.25 | 1 Nne Beatrice | Gage, NE | REPORT FROM MPING: BASEBALL+ (3.25 IN.). |
| 22:18 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Wymore | Gage, NE | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 3 E BLUE SPRINGS. ON JUNE 12, NWS SURVEY TEAM DETERMINED NO TORNADO DAMAGE HERE. BELIEVE IT WAS REPORT OF WYMORE FUNNEL CLOUD. TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED BRIEF TOUCH DOWN OF TORNADO EA |
| 22:18 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Blue Springs | Gage, NE | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED BRIEF TOUCH DOWN OF TORNADO EAST OF BLUE SPRINGS. |
| 22:23 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Wymore | Gage, NE | |
| 22:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Wymore | Gage, NE | EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE AROUND WYMORE. |
| 22:40 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ese Odell | Gage, NE | THE TORNADO STARTED APPROXIMATELY 7 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF WYMORE, NE, DOING DAMAGE TO TREES JUST WEST OF S 23 RD BETWEEN E WALNUT RD AND WILLOW RD. THE TORNADO CONTINUED SOUTH-SOUTHEASTWARD, DAMAGING THE ROOF OF A RES |
| 23:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ese Sterling | Johnson, NE | TREE LIMBS BROKEN. SHINGLES BLOWN OFF ROOF. |
| 23:55 UTC | HAIL 2 | 3 Se Cook | Johnson, NE | SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL. SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO SIDING AND CROPS. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 11, 2022
10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 11 | 2:38 AM EDT | EF0 | Charlotte, FL | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 11 | 12:00 PM PDT | Unrated | Umatilla, OR | 0.0 | 15 | |||
| June 11 | 5:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Gage, NE to KS | 4.2 | 150 | |||
| June 11 | 5:53 PM CDT | EF1 | Marshall, KS | 6.3 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 6:02 PM CDT | EF1 | Marshall, KS | 0.7 | 30 | |||
| June 11 | 6:26 PM CDT | EF1 | Marshall, KS | 1.7 | 100 | |||
| June 11 | 7:04 PM CDT | EF1 | Pottawatomie, KS | 11.3 | 50 | |||
| June 11 | 7:20 PM CDT | EF2 | Riley, KS | 0.3 | 50 | $10 million | ||
| June 11 | 7:32 PM CDT | Unrated | Riley, KS | 0.0 | 10 | |||
| June 11 | 10:07 PM CDT | EF0 | Clinton, MO | 0.0 | 20 |
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.