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EF1 tornado in Red Willow County, Nebraska

Tornado May 22, 2008 · Red Willow County, Nebraska

EF1

Rating

34.0 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

$1.9M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Decatur County, Kansas → Red Willow County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado moved into Red Willow county from Decatur county, Kansas. A garage lost a roof and 2 walls approximately 3.5 miles north of Lebanon. A stock trailer was pushed 6 feet and 4 oil tanks were blown over, one being tossed 1/4 mile. About 25 utility poles were either broken or damaged in this area.

The wider storm

Southern Nebraska was on the fringe of the major tornado event in NW Kansas on this day. One long-track tornado moved across most of Decatur county Kansas before entering Red Willow county and producing damage. An isolated hail report was also received.

Began near Lebanon (40.0019, -100.3116).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 103298. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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