EF2 tornado, South Mitchell to Minatare, Nebraska, June 23, 2023

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

June 23, 2023

Touchdown

7:38 PM MDT (01:38 UTC)

Lifted

7:45 PM MDT (01:45 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$135,000

County

Scotts Bluff County

Touchdown point

41.820, -103.630

Lift-off point

41.840, -103.590

Record number

2306231938-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CYS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0.

• Near the start location of tornado based on chaser and emergency manager report. Matted vegetation identified in this location and reported to NWS. Track later adjusted slightly south and west of here.

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

The most notable storm of the day was an intense, long-lived, cyclic tornadic supercell which significantly impacted Scotts Bluff and Morrill Counties during the early evening hours. This storm originated in the central Laramie Range of Wyoming approximately 50 miles to the west around 3 to 4 hours prior to reaching western Nebraska, producing several confirmed tornadoes along its path. Environmental conditions across Scotts Bluff County continued to support the potential for tornadoes, with abundant moisture pooling in the Platte River Valley and favorable east-to-southeast winds near the surface with a strong southwesterly jet stream aloft. The supercell produced 7 additional confirmed tornadoes (6 in Scotts Bluff County and 1 in Morrill County), most notably including an EF-2 tornado which tracked approximately 1-3 miles ENE of Gering between 7:38 PM and 7:45 PM MDT. A Tornado Emergency was in effect for Gering and Scottsbluff from 7:31 PM until 8:00 PM MDT, which was the first ever issuance of this product from the NWS in Cheyenne. Numerous instances of baseball to softball sized hail occurred across Scotts Bluff County including the city of Scottsbluff. A second intense supercell developed and tracked across Scotts Bluff County in the wake of the first tornadic storm, producing a second swath of very large (baseball sized) hail over the same area. In addition to this primary focus area for intense storms, other isolated storms also brought quarter sized hail, 60 MPH wind gusts to portions of the western Nebraska Panhandle.

A tornado occurred in open country west of Gering with no damage reported. Confirmed by official NWS Storm Survey.

A tornado tracked approximately 1 to 3 miles ENE of Gering, causing significant damage to a structure with debris scattered up to 1/2 mile to the west, including hazardous material. Vehicles on the property were thrown 50 feet. A small wooden trailer was thrown 1/4 mile away. Additionally, irrigation pivots were rolled numerous times and power lines were broken along Highway 26. Damage was consistent with an EF-2 tornado. Confirmed by official NWS Storm Survey.

A confirmed tornado produced a broad, diffuse area of damage along CR 24 and Highway 92 from a secondary tornadic circulation just east of the main Gering tornado. An EF-1 rating was based on a quonset collapse and broken power poles.

A trained spotter reported a rain-wrapped tornado with lofted debris near the intersection of CR 26 and Highway 92.

A trained spotter reported a tornado 2 miles WNW of Minatare.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:21 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:22 UTC and running to 05:00 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 01:05 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.

Scottsbluff (BFF), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:38 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 2023 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

23 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.