TornadoLookup

Home / Nebraska / Hitchcock

EF3 tornado in Hitchcock County, Nebraska

Tornado May 18, 2025 · Hitchcock County, Nebraska

EF3
Rating
10.9 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
$655K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hitchcock County → Hitchcock County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

The tornado touched down south of Muddy creek where it tore shingles off of a house. The tornado then traveled to the north and crossed Road 714. As it crossed the road it completely removed a metal machine shed, which included pulling bolts through the concrete foundation. The structure was tossed roughly 50 yards to the north. Other notable damage at this location included leveling two buildings at an old farmstead, pushing a combine roughly 60 feet, tipping over an empty grain cart into a grain truck, pushing a drill backward in the shape of a quarter circle, and then scattering seven empty cattle feeders feeders in a line going north into a wheat field.

The tornado continued north to CR 717 where it damaged trees and grain bins, broke a power pole, and blew a stock tank over a hundred yards at a homestead. The tornado then turned northeast crossing 12th Ave and CR 720 causing damage to trees, pivots, or structures. It then turned back north after passing the CR 720 and Veteran's Highway intersection. It continued along Veteran's Highway, breaking off 30 power poles before ending just south of a homestead between CR 723 and CR722.

The path north of CR 714 is estimated based on radar imagery and connecting the points of the tornado damage that was surveyed.

The wider storm

Numerous severe storms moved into SW Nebraska from northeast Colorado and northwest Kansas and led to numerous reports of hail, wind and tornadoes. The strongest tornado was an EF 3 to the north of Stratton, Nebraska along with hail around 2 inches north of Stratton and in Benkelman as well. The EF 3 caused major damage to structures, electric poles, and farm machinery. The same thunderstorm also produced swaths of straight-line winds that also caused damage to electric poles, trees, and structures.

Began near Stratton (40.1630, -101.2921).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1257186. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.