Stormy Friday produced most tornado warnings in Nebraska history

Numerous severe thunderstorms moving through Nebraska on Friday set a state record by causing 50 tornado warnings to be issued.  

“I looked at the stats just yesterday and that is a record for warnings,” Taylor Nicolaisen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, said Tuesday. “It’s just dumb luck that (the Omaha area) didn’t have any tornadoes.”

The 50 Nebraska tornado warnings includes 33 issued by the Valley office, Nicolaisen said. Some of the warnings may have been duplicates, he said. 

“We have 15 confirmed tornadoes touching down in our (coverage) area,” Nicolaisen said. “It’s possible there were a couple more than that, too.”

Fortunately, Nicolaisen said, the tornadoes did most of their damage in open country. Two people in Burt County reported injuries. One person suffered a head injury when a tree fell on a shed. Another person had cuts to his face from flying glass.

Two of the tornadoes cut wide swaths through Dodge and Burt Counties, and both were rated at EF-2. That rating denotes wind speeds of between 111 mph and 135 mph. 

In Dodge County, a tornado touched down just south of U.S. 275 about 5:45 p.m. and grew to a mile wide while traveling 10.4 miles with a maximum wind speed of 125 mph, according to a storm team report. The tornado damaged a home, power poles and numerous trees as it entered the Elkhorn River valley. It caused significant damage to a home just south of the Elkhorn River where a porch was ripped off and large trees damaged.

“The tornado crossed the Elkhorn River where significant tree damage was noted and several center pivots were flipped over,” the report said. “The tornado became wider and impacted additional farmsteads, especially as it approached County Road F up to the Dodge-Burt County line. At these farmsteads, several hog barns, machine sheds, and well-built outbuildings were destroyed.”

Numerous pieces of farm equipment were also significantly damaged. Windows were broken out of homes, roofs were damaged and garage doors were sucked out, the report said.

“Every person (interviewed) noted that their ears still hurt a day later due to the pressure drop during the tornado,” the report said. “Numerous livestock were injured or killed. The tornado appears to have dissipated just north of County Road F in Burt County before developing a new tornado just to the north.”

A Burt County tornado grew to one-half mile wide with a maximum wind speed of 120 mph during its 11.3-mile trek. That tornado started around 6:20 p.m. near Burt County Road H, a little over two miles west of U.S. 77.

“It moved north, gained strength and started destroying out buildings and trees at various farmsteads, reaching EF-2 strength,” the report said. “The tornado, which was wrapped in rain, continued trekking to the north, damaging farmstead after farmstead, as well as uprooting and snapping trees … before weakening about three miles west of Lyons.”