EF2 tornado, Merritt Res, Nebraska, April 27, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 27, 2025

Touchdown

9:27 PM MDT (03:27 UTC)

Path length

0.0 miles (0.0 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cherry County

Touchdown point

42.640, -100.930

Lift-off point

42.640, -100.930

Record number

2504272127-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LBF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Approximate end point of tornado.
• Significant damage to pine trees. Multiple dead trees tossed significant distance. Apparent satellite tornado.
• Near start point of tornado. Power poles snapped.
• Approximate end point of tornado

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

An upper level trough of low pressure aloft was situated over the Intermountain West on April 27th. East of this feature, a warm front lifted into western Nebraska and became the focal point for thunderstorm development during the late afternoon hours. Initial thunderstorms developed over western Garden County and tracked northeast into abundant low level moisture, strong low level shear and increased instability where they quickly became severe. Hail up to 3 inches in diameter and eleven tornadoes occurred with the severe storms which continued into the mid evening hours. Activity finally weakened over northern Cherry County by late evening. A couple of tornadoes were rated EF2 with winds estimated up to 132 MPH.

Tornado touched down near Boardman Creek, approximately 13 miles west-southwest of Merritt Reservoir. Several large trees were snapped off near the initial point of the tornado's path. The tornado tracked to the northeast over the western end of Merritt Reservoir before ending 3 miles west of Merritt Reservoir. Based on tree damage, the tornado was rated EF-2 with winds estimated at 118 MPH.

This tornado briefly touched down, destroying numerous mature cedar trees and tossed them a significant distance. This tornado was a satellite tornado of the tornado which tracked across the western portion of Merritt Reservoir. Based on tree damage, winds were estimated at 115 MPH with this tornado.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS LBF issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:52 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:56 UTC and running to 07:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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 North Platte radar (KLNX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:25 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

12 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.