Unrated tornado, Alvo to Manley, Nebraska, April 17, 2025

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.

Rating

Unrated

Date

April 17, 2025

Touchdown

7:20 PM CDT (00:20 UTC)

Lifted

7:22 PM CDT (00:22 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.1 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cass County

Touchdown point

40.895, -96.325

Lift-off point

40.898, -96.300

Record number

2504171820-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 60 mph.

• Approximate ending point, based on video.
• Video evidence of a tornado near this location. Little to no damage was reported, even to trees, as it passed through multiple wooded areas. The tornado appeared to have a maximum width of less than 50 yards.
• Approximate starting point based on video.
• Approximate start location of tornado. Intermittent tornado circulation passed through mainly open fields, but also through some areas of trees with little to no damage.

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

On April 17, 2025, two powerful and long-lived supercells swept across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa during the afternoon and evening hours, bringing significant severe weather impacts. The event was driven by a dynamic upper-level pattern, including a compact shortwave trough that helped spin up a surface low near the Nebraska-Kansas border. This low tracked eastward through the day, accompanied by a surface cold front advancing from the northwest and a dryline bulging into southeast Nebraska.||Ahead of these features, strong southerly flow transported warm, moist air into the region. Temperatures rose into the 80s, with dewpoints climbing into the mid-50s to low 60s. These conditions yielded moderate instability, with MUCAPE values ranging from 1000 to 2000 J/kg. Vertical wind shear was notably favorable for organized convection, with deep-layer shear in the 50���60 kt range and strong low-level hodograph curvature supporting supercell development.||Two discrete supercells initiated in eastern Nebraska during the late afternoon and tracked eastward into western Iowa during the evening. The northern supercell initially developed near Columbus, Nebraska, and tracked east through Colfax, Dodge, Washington, and Douglas counties before entering Pottawattamie County, Iowa. It produced large hail, with reports of stones up to 4 inches in diameter, and caused widespread wind-driven hail damage. The storm also spawned an EF-3 tornado that impacted portions of Douglas and Washington counties.||The second and southern-most storm formed north of Seward, Nebraska, and moved eastward across Seward, Lancaster, and Cass counties before crossing into Fremont and Page counties in Iowa later in the evening. Along its path, the storm produced baseball-sized hail (up to 2.75 inches) and several tornadoes. In Cass County, Nebraska, three tornadoes were reported���two rated EF-0 and one rated EF-U. After crossing into Iowa, the storm produced an EF-0 tornado in Fremont County, followed shortly by a stronger EF-1 tornado in Page County. This tornado grew to a maximum width of 1,971 yards before dissipating. Additionally, damaging winds associated with the storm���s rear-flank downdraft reached up to 86 mph in Page County. Both storms continued into southwest Iowa during the evening before gradually weakening.

At approximately 6:14 PM CST on Thursday April 17, video evidence supports the development of a tornado near 250th St and Alvo Road. Little to no damage was reported, even to trees, as it passed through multiple wooded areas. The tornado appeared to have a maximum width of less than 50 yards with a length of 0.84 miles. The maximum wind speed during this segment of its track was estimated at 60 mph, 0 fatalities and 0 injuries.

At approximately 6:20 PM CST on Thursday, April 17, video evidence supports the development of a tornado near 286th St and McKelvie Road that lasted for approximately 2 minutes. No damage was reported as it passed through open fields, supporting an EF-U rating.

At approximately 6:36 PM CST on Thursday April 17, a intermittent tornado developed southwest of Manley, NE based on video evidence. Intermittent tornado circulation passed through mainly open fields, but also through some areas of trees with little to no damage, supporting an EF-1 rating. The maximum wind speed during this track was estimated at 50 mph, 0 fatalities and 0 injuries.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:15 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:48 UTC and running to 02:03 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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 Omaha radar (KOAX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:19 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 2025 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.