EF3 Tornado — Cherry, Nebraska

2011-08-11 · near Wood Lake, Cherry, Nebraska

Event narrative

A tornado developed five miles south-southeast of Wood Lake and traveled to the south. It was on the ground for approximately 20 minutes and was up to a maximum of a half mile wide with maximum winds of 140 m.p.h. The tornado caused damage to two tree groves. One tree was debarked, uprooted, and moved while several other trees were uprooted. Additionally, a windmill was destroyed and another three were damaged; a steel culvert from Plum Creek washed out and was broken and displaced three-quarters a mile downstream. Also, two miles of barb wire fencing was destroyed.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed in north central Nebraska on the afternoon of August 11th in the vicinity of a warm front draped from southwest South Dakota into northeast Nebraska. The storms quickly became tornadic with six tornados occurring by the end of the evening. The largest tornado was classified as an EF3 and touched down over southeast Cherry county and traveled into Brown county before lifting. The other tornadoes produced minimal damage and were rated EF0's and EF1's. Large hail also impacted these areas, with the largest size being tennis ball size.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.5634, -100.2090)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 335920. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.