EF0 tornado, Weeping Water to Union, Nebraska, June 11, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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. 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, as surveyed

EF0, preliminary

Date

June 11, 2026

Touchdown

5:15 AM CDT (10:15 UTC)

Lifted

5:16 AM CDT (10:16 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cass County

Touchdown point

40.863, -96.085

Lift-off point

40.861, -96.079

Highest wind the damage implies

74 mph

Surveyed by

NWS OAX

The office's name for it

South Cedar Creek Tornado

Survey last edited

August 23, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

At approximately 5:15 AM, a brief tornado developed east of Weeping Water, just north of South Cedar Creek. The tornado produced sporadic tree damage, with estimated wind speeds of 65 to 74 mph. The tornado dissipated near South Cedar Creek at approximately 5:16 AM.

Written by NWS OAX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

29 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Around a dozen medium to large limbs down on the property from several trees
• Multiple trees with large limbs down at cemetery
• Windows out of house, roof blown off outbuilding

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

On the morning of June 11, 2026, severe thunderstorms pushing across southeast Nebraska into southwest Iowa produced tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and flash flooding. The synoptic setup for the event featured broad upper-level troughing over the Northern High Plains, with a strong shortwave trough pushing into eastern Nebraska early in the day. This feature provided upper-level dynamic support for the amplification of the low-level jet (LLJ) alongside subsequent low-level warm air and moisture advection. This ultimately generated the forcing necessary for storm development, which began around 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM local time over central Nebraska.||As the LLJ strengthened overnight, a surface frontal boundary began to advance northward into southeast Nebraska. Isentropic upglide to the north of the surface front led to destabilization above the boundary layer. This elevated instability, combined with 40 to 55 knots of 1-3 km bulk shear along the nose of the LLJ, led to the organization of a strong mesoscale convective system (MCS) that tracked across eastern Nebraska and into southwest Iowa.||As the storms initally pushed into eastern Nebraska, the first report of large hail���measuring up to 1.25 inches in diameter���surfacing was reported in Seward County at 2:19 AM CST. By 3:00 AM CST, the system intensified and progressed eastward into Lancaster County, producing an initial 74 mph wind gust near Valparaiso and dropping hail up to 2.50 inches in diameter. As the storms tracked directly through Lancaster County between 3:11 AM and 4:01 AM CST, they generated widespread wind damage, snapping trees and downing powerlines. One notable incident occurred at 3:46 AM CST when an estimated 10-inch diameter tree limb fell onto a home, resulting in an injury. The system then continued east toward the Missouri River, pushing into Cass County around 4:04 AM CST where it immediately began causing structural damage and dropped its first reported tornadoes shortly after 4:10 AM CST.||Crossing into southwest Iowa around 4:30 AM CST, the system's focus shifted heavily toward pockets of damaging wind gusts, brief tornadoes and flash flooding. Tornadoes were reported consecutively across Fremont, Mills, Page, and Montgomery counties between 4:29 AM CST and 5:11 AM CST. As the morning progressed, intense straight-line winds up to 90 mph continued in a swatch across eastern Page and Montgomery counties in Iowa, particularly between Coburg and Villisca, IA. By 5:26 AM CST, the severe wind and hail threats began to transition into a significant flash flood event. Heavy downpours���including a staggering 6 inches of rain reported in Sidney, Iowa by 6:00 AM CST���led to flooded creeks, residential yards, and submerged roadways across Page and Fremont counties as the storms finally pushed out of the area.

At approximately 4:10 AM CST, a tornado developed just northeast of Weeping Water near Brittini Drive and moved southeast. The tornado produced sporadic tree damage before causing the complete collapse of the walls of a farm building near Weeping Water Road and 124th Street. Based on this damage, peak winds were estimated around 100 mph. Additional tree damage was also noted on the property. The tornado dissipated before reaching Weeping Water Creek at approximately 4:14 AM CST.

At approximately 4:15 AM CST, a brief tornado developed east of Weeping Water, just north of South Cedar Creek. The tornado produced sporadic tree damage, with estimated wind speeds of 65 to 74 mph. The tornado dissipated near South Cedar Creek at approximately 4:16 AM CST.

At approximately 4:21 AM CST, a brief tornado developed northeast of Nehawka, Nebraska, near 12th Street and Beccard Drive, and moved southeast. The tornado caused fairly extensive tree damage at a residence, including several large broken branches. Based on this damage, peak winds were estimated around 90 mph. The tornado continued southeast, producing additional sporadic tree damage with estimated winds of 65 to 74 mph, before dissipating near 6th Avenue and Hoback Road at approximately 4:24 AM CST.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:15 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:37 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 07:13 UTC and running to 11:53 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:19 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.

Plattsmouth (PMV), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:12 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 2026 tornado in NebraskaEvery tornado in Nebraska since 1950Warnings in force in Nebraska nowThe forecast where you are

65 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

All 66 of them

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.

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.