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.

  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 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)ExpiredProductOffice
20:55 UTC02:39 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchCYS
00:01 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:06 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:23 UTC00:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:44 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
00:58 UTC11:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningCYS
00:58 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
01:00 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
01:42 UTC02:06 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
01:53 UTC02:06 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYS
02:27 UTC02:52 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 0.02 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2026-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -8273, lifted condensation level 2173 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2026-06-09The 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 103 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.193958Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:15 UTC150° 5 kt1015.6
20:20 UTC110° 5 kt1015.9
20:25 UTC90° 5 kt1015.6
20:30 UTC0° 0 kt1015.6
20:35 UTC80° 5 kt1015.6
20:40 UTC100° 8 kt1015.2
20:45 UTC90° 8 kt1015.2
20:50 UTC80° 7 kt1015.2
20:51 UTC73.437.470° 7 kt1014.9VCTS
20:53 UTC743760° 8 kt1014.9VCTS
20:55 UTC70° 10 kt1014.9
21:00 UTC60° 11 kt1014.9
21:05 UTC50° 10 kt1015.2
21:10 UTC60° 11 kt1014.9
21:15 UTC733850° 11 kt1014.9TS
21:15 UTC50° 11 kt1014.9
21:20 UTC40° 9 kt1015.6
21:25 UTC20° 8 kt1015.6
21:30 UTC330° 5 kt1015.9
21:35 UTC 1016.6
21:38 UTC7241280° 6 kt1016.6VCTS
21:40 UTC320° 4 kt1016.6
21:45 UTC 1015.2
21:50 UTC340° 7 kt1015.6
21:53 UTC7244330° 7 kt1015.9
21:55 UTC330° 8 kt1015.9
22:00 UTC 1015.6
22:05 UTC20° 9 kt1015.9
22:10 UTC340° 6 kt1015.9
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 UTC704750° 14 kt1014.6VCTS
22:45 UTC60° 13 kt1014.2
22:50 UTC 1014.6
22:53 UTC724570° 12 kt1014.6
22:55 UTC60° 11 kt161014.6
23:00 UTC40° 13 kt1014.2
23:05 UTC50° 10 kt1014.2
23:10 UTC50° 12 kt1014.6
23:15 UTC 1014.2
23:20 UTC50° 13 kt1013.9
23:25 UTC70° 14 kt1013.5
23:30 UTC 211013.2
23:35 UTC 1013.5
23:40 UTC 251013.2
23:45 UTC 1012.9
23:50 UTC 1012.9
23:53 UTC724980° 16 kt231012.9
23:55 UTC 1012.9
00:00 UTC70° 14 kt1013.2
00:02 UTC724970° 12 kt231013.5VCTS
00:05 UTC90° 9 kt1014.2
00:10 UTC80° 10 kt1014.2

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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:23 UTCLANDSPOUT6 S LymanScotts Bluff, NEReceived a photo of a landspout via social media.
00:42 UTCTSTM WND GST 595 N BayardMorrill, NEPersonal weather station.
01:11 UTCTSTM WND GST 675 N BayardMorrill, NEPersonal 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 89:37 PM CDTEF1Dickinson, KS3.9150
June 812:02 AM CDTEF0Shawnee, KS2.20
June 812:24 AM CDTEF0Douglas, KS0.630

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.