EF0 Tornado — Butler, Nebraska

2024-05-21 · near Loma, Butler, Nebraska

Event narrative

This tornado touched down approximately half a mile east of T Road on 28 Road where tree branches were snapped off trees and littered across the road. This tornado then continued east along 28 Road to V Road snapping branches of trees along its way. Just after it crossed V Road, trees along 28 Road were sheared off at their tops. The tornado then continued east where it dissipated a quarter mile east of W Road. At the time of dissipation, a farm outbuilding had pieces of its roof paneling blown off. The peak estimated winds in this tornado were 80 miles per hour, with a max width at 50 yards and an estimated average width of 40 yards.

Wider weather episode

Troughing over the western CONUS brought southwesterly flow aloft over the central and northern Plains for the duration of this event. In the couple of days leading up to May 21st, the upper-level flow pattern amplified as a trough deepened over the northern Rockies. This trough then ejected out into the central Plains on the 21st. At the surface, a stationary front developed and stretched across central Nebraska and southern Iowa by the evening of the 19th. Elevated convection that morning north of the developing surface boundary resulted in isolated instances of severe hail and wind across southeast Nebraska. Additional scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed along this frontal boundary as it slowly lifted north, with a 64 miles per hour wind gust measured in Lancaster County and golf ball sized hail falling in Clarinda Iowa.

A weak low-pressure system developed the morning of the 20th in response to a shortwave rounding the base of the main trough out west, resulting in a cold front that pushed southeast across South Dakota and central Nebraska that afternoon. This front, however, stalled out across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa that evening, remaining draped across the region that night and into the morning of the 21st. Numerous rounds of strong and severe thunderstorms that night brought widespread severe weather and flash flooding, primarily across east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa, though some elevated supercells in northeast Nebraska brought small hail to the area. After 10 UTC, an intense line of severe thunderstorms moved across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa bringing wind gusts ranging from 60 to 95 miles per hour, in addition to several spin-up tornadoes.

As the primary upper-level disturbance ejected out over the Great Plains, intense surface cyclogenesis was noted over eastern Nebraska. This resulted in the frontal boundary that had been draped across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa that night prior to be forced northward. By 18 UTC, a strong cold front pushed through southeast Nebraska and into Iowa that afternoon. Scattered supercell thunderstorms developed along this cold front and moved across southeast Nebraska and western Iowa. These supercells became tornadic after crossing the Missouri River into Iowa, with several long-track significant tornadoes being confirmed across the state. In the OAX CWA, the strongest tornado damage confirmed was that consistent of an EF-2 in Montgomery County. This tornado continued into the DMX CWA where it caused EF-3 damage. Another tornado developed in Page County shortly before 3 PM that afternoon. This tornado went on to produce EF-4 damage in the DMX CWA. All in all, over this three-day event, 10 tornadoes were confirmed across the OAX CWA.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.1480, -96.9930)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1181051. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.