EF1 tornado, Morrill to Mitchell, Nebraska, June 20, 2024

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

June 20, 2024

Touchdown

3:29 PM MDT (21:29 UTC)

Lifted

3:34 PM MDT (21:34 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Scotts Bluff County

Touchdown point

41.956, -103.882

Lift-off point

41.960, -103.855

Record number

2406201529-01

10 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CYS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Several trees destroyed, greenhouse roof destroyed, chicken coop destroyed with two chickens lost
• Entire garage facility slid several yards from attached brick building. Complete failure of all walls with roofing down on cars inside. Also several trees snapped at trunk and uprooted around neighboring house.
• Center pivots partially destroyed. Start point of tornado damage path.
• Metal fencing destroyed and scattered. Playground equipment which was cemented into ground was pulled up and tossed

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

An intense supercell crossed into western Scotts Bluff County around 3:00 PM MDT on 6/20, quickly transitioning to an intense bow echo which produced widespread destructive straight line winds. These storms produced an EF-1 tornado to the southeast of the town of Morrill, NE, while a notable RFD (Rear Flank Downdraft) produced a broad swath of straight line winds in excess of 80 MPH. These RFD winds resulted in extensive tree and power line damage, most notably resulting in the collapse of a 300 foot KNEB communications tower. A member of the general public reported a wind gust to 104 MPH on a Davis weather instrument on the west side of Scottsbluff, which was consistent with the results of an official NWS Damage Survey. These storms quickly grew upscale into a large bowing MCS which tracked across much of western Nebraska, which continued to produce extreme winds through the evening with a peak wind gust to 81 MPH at Alliance.

An NWS damage survey found evidence of EF-1 tornado damage at multiple|properties along County Road D as well as along Highway 26. One residence|had partial roof structure failure as well as roofing material completely|removed. Another garage facility experienced total structural collapse and|foundation shift. Numerous large tree limbs 1-2 feet in diameter were snapped|and scattered. Several smaller metal outbuildings were also destroyed and scattered.||Of important note, this tornado occurred along the northern fringe of a much|larger area of powerful straight-line outflow winds observed in excess of 90|to 100 mph. Damage indicators from the straight-line winds throughout Scotts Bluff|county were all pointed eastward. This was in dramatic contrast to the tornado|path which featured a chaotic scattering of damage and debris, some of which|was lofted north and even back west of the circulation path.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS CYS issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:24 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:25 UTC and running to 01:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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.

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:28 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 2024 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.