EF1 Tornado — Colfax, Nebraska

2023-07-12 · near Howells, Colfax, Nebraska

Event narrative

A likely tornado embedded within a broader area of downburst winds appears to have impacted homes and trees on the west side of Howells, causing roof damage and shifting the walls of a garage. Beyond this area, it was difficult to discern any particular tornado damage from straight line wind damage, but there was additional damage to trees, fences, and a power substation on the south side of Howells as well.

Wider weather episode

A widespread significant damaging wind storm tracked across nearly all of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on the morning of July 12. These storms produced widespread winds of 60 to 80 mph, with embedded stronger downbursts with wind speeds up to 100 mph. The strongest measured wind gust was 82 mph in Dodge County NE, but some of the high-end straight line wind damage supports embedded wind speeds up to 100 mph.

This storm also produced a few embedded tornadoes. Some of the tornado tracks were only identified by narrow swaths of damage through mature cornfields, with minimal damage otherwise and peak wind speeds similar to the nearby downburst winds. All but one of the tornadoes was preceded by a Wireless Emergency Alert. There were 0 reported injuries or fatalities.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7270, -97.0130)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1114258. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.