Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2024

Unrated tornado, (Anw)Ainsworth Muni, Nebraska, July 30, 2024

This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Brown County on July 30, 2024, touching down at 8:57 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
Unrated
Date
July 30, 2024
Touchdown
8:57 PM CDT (01:57 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Brown County
Touchdown point
42.550, -100.010
Lift-off point
42.550, -100.010
Record number
2407301957-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell thunderstorms developed along a boundary, situated along the South Dakota and Nebraska border during the late afternoon of July 30th. As this initial activity tracked to the southeast, it quickly became severe as it traversed northeastern Cherry and Keya Paha counties into Brown and Rock counties. Hail up to 2 inches in diameter and a tornado was reported near Ainsworth.

Law enforcement reported a tornado 8 miles west of Ainsworth, tracking to the southeast. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

11 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:46 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:29 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:00 UTC01:00 UTCHeat AdvisoryLBF
21:26 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
21:29 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLBF
22:10 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
22:55 UTC23:22 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
01:39 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBF
01:46 UTC02:30 UTCTornado WarningLBF
02:11 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WarningLBF
02:24 UTC03:15 UTCTornado WarningLBF
02:57 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningLBF

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. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

2.0 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. July 31, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2024-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 5209 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 1681 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2024-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 76 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
5209 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7752 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1681 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
13.7
0-3 km lapse rate
8.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z

10.0 hours after it, 165 km from the path. July 31, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2024-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2736 joules per kilogram, CIN -293, lifted condensation level 1834 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2024-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2736 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-293 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2555 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1834 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:56 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:18 UTCHAIL 0.78 Sse SpringviewRock, NE
23:48 UTCHAIL 0.887 Sw SpringviewKeya Paha, NE
01:45 UTCHAIL 1.51 Ese JohnstownBrown, NE
01:57 UTCTORNADO3 Se JohnstownBrown, NEChief reported that they spotted a tornado on the ground 8 miles west of Ainsworth moving to the southeast.
02:04 UTCHAIL 1.754 W AinsworthBrown, NE
03:40 UTCHAIL 0.754 N RoseRock, NEReport from mPING: Dime (0.75 in.).

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 30, 2024

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 306:30 PM CDTEF1Vanderburgh, IN11.0300$385,000

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.