Tornadoes · United States · Nebraska · 2026
EF0 tornado, Otoe County, Nebraska, September 14, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 2.8 miles across Otoe County on September 14, 2026, touching down at 6:49 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS OAX'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 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
- September 14, 2026
- Touchdown
- 6:49 PM CDT (23:49 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:53 PM CDT (23:53 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 2.8 miles (4.6 km)
- Path width
- 10 yards (9 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Otoe County
- Touchdown point
- 40.768, -96.156
- Lift-off point
- 40.770, -96.102
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 83 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS OAX
- Survey last edited
- September 15, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
An EF-0 tornado touched down in an agricultural field just south of County Road B, between 32nd and 34th Roads, flattening a path through corn. The tornado tracked east, tipping over a large metal storage tank between 34th and 36th Roads. It continued east, breaking large branches off of trees near 38th and County Road B before lifting.
Written by NWS OAX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 83 mph.
- Two story tank tipped over
- Emergency Management noted corn damage south of B Road between 32nd and 34th.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
9 minutes of warning. NWS OAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:40 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:09 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:51 UTC and running to 03:48 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:16 UTC | 08:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 21:51 UTC | 03:48 UTC | Tornado Watch | OAX |
| 23:00 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Flood Watch | OAX |
| 23:25 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 23:40 UTC | 00:09 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 23:55 UTC | 00:04 UTC | Tornado Warning | OAX |
| 23:57 UTC | 00:16 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 00:44 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 02:26 UTC | 02:56 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
| 02:36 UTC | 02:57 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX |
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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z
0.2 hours after it, 65 km from the path. September 15, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1901 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -88 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2942 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1352 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 56 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 227 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 316 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.6
- Supercell composite
- 14.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.3 K/km
The radar
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:51 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:09 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ene Davey | Lancaster, NE | 3 to 6 inch diameter branches down. Time estimated from radar. |
| 23:27 UTC | TSTM WND GST 57 | 4 N Memphis | Saunders, NE | |
| 23:39 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Se Eagle | Otoe, NE | Large tree down across County Road 8 and B. |
| 23:49 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Sw Avoca | Otoe, NE | An EF-0 tornado touched down in an agricultural field just south of County Road B, between 32nd and 34th Roads, flattening a path through corn. The tornado tracked east, tipping over a large metal storage tank between 34 |
| 23:51 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Weeping Water | Cass, NE | Delayed report of a whole tree blocking Adams Street just eat of Highway 50. Time estimated via radar. |
| 23:51 UTC | TSTM WND GST 75 | 5 Ese Elmwood | Cass, NE | |
| 00:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Nehawka | Cass, NE | Delayed report of full trees down on the road on Nehawka Spur. Time and locations estimated from radar. |
| 00:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cook | Johnson, NE | Trees down. Time estimated based on security video. |
| 01:51 UTC | TSTM WND GST 61 | 3 Nw Adams | Gage, 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
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.