EF3 tornado, Flightland Arpt to Nashville, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 17, 2025

Touchdown

6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)

Lifted

7:15 PM CDT (00:15 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

8.1 miles (13.1 km)

Path width

170 yards (155 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Douglas and Washington counties

Touchdown point

41.389, -96.091

Lift-off point

41.420, -95.943

Record number

2504171755-01

11 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 122 mph.

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 5:55 PM CST on Thursday, April 17, a tornado developed near Highway 133, and appeared to produce first damage by snapping limbs in an area of trees. The tornado moved to the east, impacting trees, homes, and destroying a garage near 108th Street. It damaged trees along Little Papillion Creek and then impacted a home and large garage near 84th Street, south of Dutch Hall Road. This was the point along the tornado track where the most intense damage was observed, as a well-built all-brick home was destroyed with only some walls still standing. Tree damage near the site, as well as the destruction of a large, well-built garage, supported the estimate of high-end EF-2 to low-end EF-3 damage at this location. The tornado proceeded to destroy another large shed, and remove the roof from a brick home a half mile to the east. It then destroyed a very large garage-type building in-between two homes at 78th Street south of Dutch Hall Road. The tornado passed directly between the homes, causing extensive tree damage, lifting and moving a full-size pickup truck approximately 30 yards, and throwing large trees nearly a quarter of a mile downstream. The tornado weakened slightly but damaged several outbuildings and trees near 72nd Street. The peak width of the tornado during this segment of its track was measured at 170 yards with a length of 3.88 miles. The maximum wind speed during this segment of its track was estimated at 140 mph, 0 fatalities and 0 injuries.

This is a continuation of the Douglas County segment of this EF-3 tornado. At the start of this segment, the tornado began to move more northeasterly, snapping several trees and flipping recreational vehicles at Nashville, NE. It directly impacted another home, destroying two outbuildings and causing tree damage near Country Road P38, supporting the estimate of EF-2 damage. The tornado impacted one more home and destroyed another outbuilding near Country Road P51 before dissipating in an open field at approximately 6:15 PM CST. The peak width of the tornado during this segment of its track was measured at 170 yards with a length of 4.24 miles. The maximum wind speed during this segment of its track was estimated at 120 mph, 0 fatalities and 0 injuries.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 0.05 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.

Blair (BTA), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:56 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.

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.