EF1 tornado, Stanton to Pilger, Nebraska, May 12, 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 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

May 12, 2023

Touchdown

5:39 PM CDT (22:39 UTC)

Lifted

5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

5.1 miles (8.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Stanton County

Touchdown point

41.910, -97.100

Lift-off point

41.980, -97.070

Record number

2305121639-01

53 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 107 mph.

• Pivots flipped from one end to the other end of entire section
• Two different pivots with multiple sections flipped
• Old barn with blown with wall blown out
• Old shed that had the back corner blown out including part of the roof

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

A strong low-pressure system which had been slowly moving east off the Rocky Mountains finally progressed into central Nebraska. This left eastern Nebraska in the warm sector as a warm front moved north into the area. The SPC issued an Enhanced Risk for severe weather with a 30% hatched for severe hail. There ended up being 19 confirmed tornadoes (3 EF2, 8 EF1, 4 EF0, 4 EFU). There were numerous hail reports the largest of which was 4.5 inches in Pawnee County. Another 4-inch report was received in Richardson County. Flash flooding was also observed in a few locations.

A tornado tracked northeast for approximately 5 miles in Stanton County. The most intense damage occurred at a farm near the start of the track where a hog barn was completely destroyed and debris was deposited up to a half mile downstream. There was also some tree damage as well as flipped center pivots.

A tornado tracked north northwest for approximately 2.8 miles across part of Stanton County. Most of the track occurred in difficult to access areas but the assessment revealed that this was most likely caused by a tornado. The most intense damage was near Highway 275 where several trees were uprooted, a few were snapped, and there was minor roof damage to a home. A shed was also damaged along the track.

An intermittent tornado damage track was noted along the west flank of a focused and elongated area of downburst winds. Initial damage was to a center pivot and three wooden double-posted electrical transmission structures. After that, the damage was largely to trees although there were a couple of farm outbuildings damaged along the track. One east- west oriented tree line had a focused damage area approximately 200 yards wide. it appears likely that this tornado track had some gaps in it based on the somewhat sporadic damage pattern. Special thanks to Stanton county emergency management for their assistance in this survey and drone-based evaluation.

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

39 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:00 UTC, 39 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:10 UTC and running to 23:56 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 20:08 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.

Norfolk (OFK), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:40 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

32 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.