EF1 tornado, Darr to Lexington Arpt, Nebraska, May 5, 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 5, 2023

Touchdown

10:54 PM CDT (03:54 UTC)

Lifted

11:00 PM CDT (04:00 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.7 miles (7.5 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.0 million

County

Dawson County

Touchdown point

40.732, -99.901

Lift-off point

40.694, -99.826

Record number

2305052154-01

23 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Loss of roof on older structure. Overhang on west/southwest side. Limited tree damage nearby.
• Wood framed storage shed destroyed.
• Wood and metal storage units. Garage door failure. Some limited grass splatter.
• 2x6 driven through wall (tin)

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

Large hail, damaging wind gusts, and an isolated tornado occurred over portions of south central Nebraska, mainly west of Highway 281, during the afternoon through late evening hours. Initial development occurred roughly along the NE/KS state line between 1600-1700CDT, and was mainly in the form of supercells. By around 2200CDT, nearly a half-dozen supercells affected portions of south central Nebraska roughly along and south of Interstate 80 (I-80) and west of Highway 281 and produced scattered instances of large to very large hail. The largest hail reported was tennis ball in Franklin County, which was associated with one of the first supercells to form in the late afternoon. After the initial round of supercells, which weakened mostly below severe limits by 2230CDT, a squall line of thunderstorms moved into far western portions of the CWA between 2230-2300CDT. The primary severe threat with this activity was damaging wind gusts of 60-65MPH. However, embedded within the squall line was a brief EF-1 tornado that impacted the Johnson Lake area around 2300. A bow echo developed within the squall line between 2300-2400CDT over Dawson County then raced northeast and affected areas north of the Platte River over the next 60-90 minutes. This activity weakened as it exited NE portions of the CWA during the early morning hours of May 6th.||While there were no significant synoptic scale fronts or low pressure systems in the area of this event, the first round of scattered supercells developed along a remnant outflow boundary that was stalled near the NE/KS state line. The second round was a result of thunderstorms that developed over the High Plains which was then supported by an increasing low level jet as activity shifted east overnight. Through the entire event, there was moderately strong instability (2000-3000 J/kg of CAPE), strong deep layer shear around 40-45kt, and steep mid level lapse rates of 7-8C/km. 0-3km shear was also strong during this event, around 30kt, which supported the bow echo development across northern portions of the CWA during the evening hours.

A tornado developed within a line of thunderstorms northwest of Johnson Lake in far southern Dawson county just before 11:00 PM on Friday, May 5th. The tornado appeared to begin a couple miles northwest of the toppled three irrigation pivots before hitting the Lakeview Acres area on the northwest side of the lake. At least two large storage sheds were totally destroyed in that area. There were several instances of damage in the area, such as trees, smaller buildings, windows and some roof damage,|including two 2x4 stud driven into the roof of one home. The tornado traversed east across the lake and did significant damage to several homes on the east side of the lake right along the Gosper county line. Along the shore line, at least three homes in a row had all or part of a covered porch blown apart, and one home had a large section of its roof torn off. Another flat roof cabin had its entire roof torn off. A few power poles were snapped. Tree damage was common in this general area. The tornado moved east and upset an irrigation pivot and peeled back some metal roofing from a large building just east of the lake. The tornado likely dissipated east of County Road 428. The |maximum wind speed was estimated to be 95 MPH based upon the residential roof damage and the storage building being destroyed. The path was just under 5 miles long and the width was estimated to be 80 yards.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:46 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:51 UTC and running to 04:50 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:47 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.

Lexington (LXN), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:51 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

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.