EF0 tornado in Webster County, Nebraska

This brief, less than one mile long tornado traversed open country before crossing Highway 281 a couple of miles north of the Cowles/Highway 281 intersection. Corn stalks were strewn about and minor tree damage was noted. The path was based on a combination of damage indicators in the field and radar Correlation Coefficient signatures.

A closed upper low/trough was over the Central Plains, which brought an increase in atmospheric lift. Moisture and instability increased across the area during the afternoon of the previous day. Wind shear and helicity increased after sunset. As the low moved northeast over Kansas and Nebraska, a cold front with gusty northwest winds moved into the area during the day on April 16th. These conditions were conducive to the development of severe weather. Strong to severe storms in the form of a QLCS moved northeastward into south central and central Nebraska during the early morning hours of April 16th. The storms produced hail up to the size of half dollars, wind gusts up to 78 mph, and one EF-0 tornado (in Webster County). These storms began with half dollar size hail just before 1 AM CDT in Furnas County and ended with a round of storms producing half dollar size hail in York County before 7:30 AM CDT. There were some reports of high wind, not associated with thunderstorms, from just before 3 AM to just after 1 PM CDT.