TornadoLookup

Home / Nebraska / Seward

EF2 tornado in Seward County, Nebraska

Tornado December 15, 2021 · Seward County, Nebraska

EF2
Rating
23.7 mi
Whole path
70 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 70 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This is segment 2 of 3 of an EF-2 tornado that came out of northeast Saline County. In Seward County it damaged trees and farm outbuildings, passing just southeast of Pleasant Dale. The tornado then crossed into Lancaster County.

The wider storm

A low pressure system brought strong (both thunderstorm, and non-thunderstorm) winds, tornadoes, dust, snow, and record temperatures into eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. The event was determined to be a derecho meeting the criteria of wind damage extending more than 250 miles, including wind gusts of at least 58 mph and numerous gusts of at least 75 mph.

Began near Milford (40.6980, -96.9780).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Cuming CountyEF2 Cuming CountyEF2 Cass CountyEF2 Cass CountyEF2 Platte CountyEF1 Platte CountyEF1 Colfax CountyEF1 Cuming CountyEF1 Saunders CountyEF1 Saunders CountyEF1 Cuming CountyEF1 Pawnee CountyEF1 Pawnee CountyEF1 Otoe CountyEF1 Cuming CountyEF0 Pawnee County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 999647. 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.