EF2 Tornado — Fillmore, Nebraska

2014-05-11 · near Grafton, Fillmore, Nebraska

Event narrative

This tornado traveled rural areas of northern Fillmore County, bumping the York County line along the way. It touched down a few miles north-northwest of Grafton and lifted a few miles north-northeast of Fairmont. One home suffered damage when part of the roof was torn away, while another older home was pushed approximately 30 feet off of its foundation. There was widespread power pole and tree damage, with some trees containing debris from grain bins, and a number of irrigation pivots were overturned. The peak wind with this tornado was estimated to be 120 MPH. South of the main tornado track, strong rear flank downdraft winds resulted in additional power pole and irrigation pivot damage, and an outbuilding suffered damage near Highway 81 north of Fairmont.

Wider weather episode

Multiple thunderstorms formed along and southeast of a line from Red Cloud to York on this Sunday afternoon. However, most of the severe weather was produced by a single supercell. This was the first and most intense storm of the day and it formed over Webster county around 2:30 p.m. CDT. This storm took full advantage of an extremely favorable environment, quickly becoming severe and producing at least one brief, weak tornado just southwest of Glenvil. The storm continued northeast producing several more tornadoes, two of which resulted in a maximum damage rating of EF-3. One of these tornadoes occurred over Clay and Fillmore counties and the other subsequently occurred over Fillmore and Seward counties. The first of these EF-3 tornadoes was on the ground for nearly 22 miles. Damage surveys, photos and video confirmed that this storm produced at least 6 other tornadoes, 3 rated EF-0, 2 rated EF-1 and 1 rated EF-2. One of the EF-1 tornadoes was anticyclonic and touched down just north of Fairmont. To the left of these tornadoes, severe hail was common. The largest hail observed was the size of tennis balls in Glenvil. Large swaths of damaging winds, from the rear flank downdraft, accompanied the tornadoes to their south and southeast. Tornado and wind damage was extensive to trees, power poles, farm buildings including grain bins, and a few homes. Over 200 irrigation pivots were overturned and/or twisted. Multiple farmsteads also endured damage, including the loss of a new machine shed. By 5:30 p.m., this storm had moved into eastern Nebraska. Other storms developed in its wake, but produced no severe weather.

A very long surface front extended from New England, through the Ohio Valley, across the Central Plains and into the Desert Southwest. Portions of this front were stationary while others were being modulated by several waves of low pressure. The front lifted northward to the Kansas-Nebraska border by daybreak. One low ejected out of Colorado and moved east along the front through northern Kansas during the day. This supercell formed just northeast of this low on the immediate cool side of the front. The upper-level flow featured an amplified western trough and eastern ridge. A closed low was at the base of the trough over the Four Corners region. These storms initiated with the aid of a shortwave trough that ejected into the Central Plains ahead of this low. A strong 100 knot jet streak was at the base of the trough at 300 mb, placing the Central Plains in the favorable left front quadrant. An expansive stratus cloud deck, on the cool side of the front, resulted in a substantial temperature gradient across the front, with afternoon temperatures in the 40s and 50s across much of Nebraska to the mid 80s and low 90s over northern Kansas. This resulted in a tight instability gradient with MLCAPE of 2000 J/kg right along the front. Winds were strong throughout the column. The ejecting low pressure center, combined with the front, resulted in significantly backed winds, enhancing low-level shear. 0-1 km SRH was roughly 300 m2/s2, with 0-3 km SRH 400-600 m2/s2. The environment was very favorable for severe storms and tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6638, -97.7309)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 510470. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.