Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2026
Unrated tornado, Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, June 8, 2026
This Unrated tornado ran 0.8 miles across Scotts Bluff County on June 8, 2026, touching down at 4:15 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
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.
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 8, 2026
- Touchdown
- 4:15 PM MDT (22:15 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:17 PM MDT (22:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
- Path width
- 15 yards (14 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Scotts Bluff County
- Touchdown point
- 41.836, -104.042
- Lift-off point
- 41.839, -104.028
- Surveyed by
- NWS CYS
- Survey last edited
- June 9, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
A landspout was photographed by multiple vantages to the south of Lyman. A light colored dust column extended up to the clouds associated with a boundary. The landspout was short-lived and likely remained over fields during its duration. Location is estimated from media and 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 20:55 UTC and running to 02:39 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:55 UTC | 02:39 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | CYS |
| 00:01 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 00:06 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 00:23 UTC | 00:35 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 00:44 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 00:58 UTC | 11:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | CYS |
| 00:58 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 01:00 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 01:42 UTC | 02:06 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 01:53 UTC | 02:06 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
| 02:27 UTC | 02:52 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CYS |
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 0.02 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.
Rapid City, SD (KUNR), 00:00Z
1.7 hours after it, 265 km from the path. June 9, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8273 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 16 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2173 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 103 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.0 K/km
The surface observations
Torrington Municipal Airport (TOR), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:15 UTC | 150° 5 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 20:20 UTC | 110° 5 kt | 1015.9 | ||||
| 20:25 UTC | 90° 5 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 20:30 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 20:35 UTC | 80° 5 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 20:40 UTC | 100° 8 kt | 1015.2 | ||||
| 20:45 UTC | 90° 8 kt | 1015.2 | ||||
| 20:50 UTC | 80° 7 kt | 1015.2 | ||||
| 20:51 UTC | 73.4 | 37.4 | 70° 7 kt | 1014.9 | VCTS | |
| 20:53 UTC | 74 | 37 | 60° 8 kt | 1014.9 | VCTS | |
| 20:55 UTC | 70° 10 kt | 1014.9 | ||||
| 21:00 UTC | 60° 11 kt | 1014.9 | ||||
| 21:05 UTC | 50° 10 kt | 1015.2 | ||||
| 21:10 UTC | 60° 11 kt | 1014.9 | ||||
| 21:15 UTC | 73 | 38 | 50° 11 kt | 1014.9 | TS | |
| 21:15 UTC | 50° 11 kt | 1014.9 | ||||
| 21:20 UTC | 40° 9 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 21:25 UTC | 20° 8 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 21:30 UTC | 330° 5 kt | 1015.9 | ||||
| 21:35 UTC | 1016.6 | |||||
| 21:38 UTC | 72 | 41 | 280° 6 kt | 1016.6 | VCTS | |
| 21:40 UTC | 320° 4 kt | 1016.6 | ||||
| 21:45 UTC | 1015.2 | |||||
| 21:50 UTC | 340° 7 kt | 1015.6 | ||||
| 21:53 UTC | 72 | 44 | 330° 7 kt | 1015.9 | ||
| 21:55 UTC | 330° 8 kt | 1015.9 | ||||
| 22:00 UTC | 1015.6 | |||||
| 22:05 UTC | 20° 9 kt | 1015.9 | ||||
| 22:10 UTC | 340° 6 kt | 1015.9 | ||||
| 22:15 UTC | 1015.6 | |||||
| 22:20 UTC | 1015.2 | -RA | ||||
| 22:25 UTC | 1014.9 | -RA | ||||
| 22:30 UTC | 1014.6 | -RA | ||||
| 22:35 UTC | 1014.6 | -RA | ||||
| 22:40 UTC | 1014.6 | |||||
| 22:43 UTC | 70 | 47 | 50° 14 kt | 1014.6 | VCTS | |
| 22:45 UTC | 60° 13 kt | 1014.2 | ||||
| 22:50 UTC | 1014.6 | |||||
| 22:53 UTC | 72 | 45 | 70° 12 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 22:55 UTC | 60° 11 kt | 16 | 1014.6 | |||
| 23:00 UTC | 40° 13 kt | 1014.2 | ||||
| 23:05 UTC | 50° 10 kt | 1014.2 | ||||
| 23:10 UTC | 50° 12 kt | 1014.6 | ||||
| 23:15 UTC | 1014.2 | |||||
| 23:20 UTC | 50° 13 kt | 1013.9 | ||||
| 23:25 UTC | 70° 14 kt | 1013.5 | ||||
| 23:30 UTC | 21 | 1013.2 | ||||
| 23:35 UTC | 1013.5 | |||||
| 23:40 UTC | 25 | 1013.2 | ||||
| 23:45 UTC | 1012.9 | |||||
| 23:50 UTC | 1012.9 | |||||
| 23:53 UTC | 72 | 49 | 80° 16 kt | 23 | 1012.9 | |
| 23:55 UTC | 1012.9 | |||||
| 00:00 UTC | 70° 14 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 00:02 UTC | 72 | 49 | 70° 12 kt | 23 | 1013.5 | VCTS |
| 00:05 UTC | 90° 9 kt | 1014.2 | ||||
| 00:10 UTC | 80° 10 kt | 1014.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:23 UTC | LANDSPOUT | 6 S Lyman | Scotts Bluff, NE | Received a photo of a landspout via social media. |
| 00:42 UTC | TSTM WND GST 59 | 5 N Bayard | Morrill, NE | Personal weather station. |
| 01:11 UTC | TSTM WND GST 67 | 5 N Bayard | Morrill, NE | Personal weather station. |
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 8, 2026
3 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
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.