Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2026
EF0 tornado, Thayer County, Nebraska, July 3, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Thayer County on July 3, 2026, touching down at 7:02 PM CDT. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS GID's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Hubbell Tornado. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The survey
- Rating, as surveyed
- EF0, preliminary
- Date
- July 3, 2026
- Touchdown
- 7:02 PM CDT (00:02 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:04 PM CDT (00:04 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 2.4 miles (3.9 km)
- Path width
- 0 yards (0 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Thayer County
- Touchdown point
- 40.055, -97.547
- Lift-off point
- 40.029, -97.517
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 75 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS GID
- The office's name for it
- Hubbell Tornado
- Survey last edited
- July 10, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
Combination of reports, local storm survey by EM and radar information.
Written by NWS GID in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.
- Surveyed by Emergency Manager. Noted treetop-type damage. Nearby center irrigation pivot and buildings undamaged.
- Indirect report of tree damage via remote observation device.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
0 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:02 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:35 UTC and running to 01:22 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:35 UTC | 01:22 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | GID |
| 23:07 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID |
| 23:37 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID |
| 23:50 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID |
| 00:02 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | GID |
| 00:28 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID |
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 19:33 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 radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:04 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:34 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 4 Wnw Hebron | Thayer, NE | |
| 00:02 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Hubbell | Thayer, NE | |
| 00:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 3 Ne Chester | Thayer, NE | Lost power from an estimated 60 MPH wind gust. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 3, 2026
1 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 3 | 3:59 PM MDT | Unrated | Goshen, WY | 1.8 | 0 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.
Sources
NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.