Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2026

Unrated tornado, Kimball County, Nebraska, June 22, 2026

This Unrated tornado ran 0.9 miles across Kimball County on June 22, 2026, touching down at 3:01 PM MDT and reaching 15 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS CYS's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit. 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.

  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.

The survey

Rating, as surveyed
Unrated, preliminary
Date
June 22, 2026
Touchdown
3:01 PM MDT (21:01 UTC)
Lifted
3:11 PM MDT (21:11 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
0.9 miles (1.4 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Kimball County
Touchdown point
41.102, -103.679
Lift-off point
41.093, -103.667
Surveyed by
NWS CYS
Survey last edited
June 25, 2026
Record number
None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

What the survey found

A brief landspout was observed by several storm chasers in an open field between County Road 16 and County Road 14. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:49 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:49 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchCYS
19:43 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
20:25 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
20:30 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
21:10 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
21:12 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
21:48 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS

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, 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.

The air that afternoon

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.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

3.0 hours after it, 257 km from the path. June 23, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2026-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 652 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 1562 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 2026-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 14 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
652 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1430 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:59 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:24 UTCHAIL 1.756 Nw KimballKimball, NE
20:32 UTCHAIL 0.75KimballKimball, NE
20:44 UTCHAIL 1.752 W KimballKimball, NEReports of 1-2 inches of hail on the ground.
20:44 UTCHAIL 22 W KimballKimball, NECorrects previous hail report from 2 W Kimball. Reports of 1-2 inches of hail on the ground.
20:52 UTCHAIL 2.53 W KimballKimball, NECar windows busted.
21:00 UTCHAIL 1KimballKimball, NEReport from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.).
21:00 UTCHAIL 1KimballKimball, NE
21:01 UTCLANDSPOUT7 S KimballKimball, NELandspout over an open field.
21:03 UTCHAIL 2.54 Wnw KimballKimball, NEPicture report via social media from a meteorologist and trained spotter.
21:05 UTCLANDSPOUT7 Ssw KimballKimball, NEReports of two concurrent landspouts. Confirmed via livestream and pictures on social media.
21:13 UTCHAIL 1.257 S KimballKimball, NEReport from mPING: Half Dollar (1.25 in.).
21:13 UTCHAIL 1.59 S KimballKimball, NE
21:28 UTCHAIL 1.7514 Se KimballKimball, NE
22:05 UTCHAIL 213 S KimballKimball, NETrained Spotter reported 2 inch hail falling out of core on HWY 71.

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 June 22, 2026

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

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:30 AM CDTEF2Canadian, OK2.0180
June 221:59 AM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK4.6100
June 222:12 AM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK3.675
June 223:10 AM CDTEF1Hughes, OK5.3100
June 226:16 AM CDTEF1Franklin, AR3.3400
June 221:33 PM CDTEF0Jackson, AL0.5100
June 223:05 PM CDTUnratedPecos, TX2.20
June 222:31 PM MDTEF2Campbell, WY12.7600
June 223:58 PM CDTEF1Madison, AL5.560
June 224:03 PM CDTEF0Madison, AL2.830
June 224:03 PM CDTEF0Madison, AL2.830
June 223:05 PM MDTUnratedKimball, NE0.610
June 225:14 PM EDTEF1Fayette, PA1.2140
June 224:18 PM CDTEF1Franklin, TN0.7160
June 224:18 PM CDTEF0Jackson, AL0.260
June 226:11 PM EDTEF0Marion, WV0.225
June 227:02 PM EDTEF0Calvert, MD1.30
June 225:16 PM MDTUnratedPueblo, CO2.40
June 225:42 PM MDTUnratedPueblo, CO1.60
June 227:50 PM EDTEF1Barbour, WV1.1275

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.