HOLDREGE — Four tornadoes were confirmed to have occurred during the late evening into early morning hours of Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24 across south central Nebraska.
The first to occur was an EF-1 rated tornado that tracked from the southwest to the northeast through the Holdrege community.
The National Weather Service – Hastings noted that much of the damage was noted in trees throughout the town. Some large, well established trees were uprooted or snapped.
Several garages along the path sustained damage. The tornado winds would initially damage the door, after which, some structural wall damage occurred.
The tornado was on the ground for three minutes, from 11:30 p.m. to 11:33 p.m. Its maximum winds were 95 mph, largest width was 100 yards and the path it traveled was 1.71 miles.
The second tornado, an EF-0, occurred north of Minden and tracked toward the Heartwell area.
NWS Hastings noted that this tornado damaged a handful of pivots and some trees along its eight mile path. Peak winds of 85 mph were estimated based upon tree damage near the middle of the path.
This tornado was detected on radar by the WSR-88D Doppler radar’s correlation coefficient (CC) product, a parameter that measures the consistency of the size and shape of targets within a radar beam. Tornadoes create a non-uniform CC
This drop in the CC coincided with the path but the damage itself was limited. NWS Hastings states that one possible reason for the lowered CC shown on radar was caused by the amount of corn stalks picked up by the tornado from several no-till fields in the area.
The Heartwell EF-0 was on the ground for ten minutes, from 12:00 a.m. to 12:10 a.m., early Friday.
The third tornado occurred near Palmer and tracked through Howard, Merrick and Nance counties.
NWS Hastings notes this EF-1 rated tornado started in extreme eastern Howard County and end in extreme southern Nance County, but spent most of its travel time in Merrick County north and northeast of Palmer.
There were several spots of tree damage along the seven mile path, but the most significant damage was to an outbuilding and large cottonwood trees northeast of Palmer.
The maximum wind speeds were estimated to be 95 mph based upon the damage at the farmstead.
The tornado was on the ground for nine minutes, from 12:09 a.m. to 12:18 a.m. Its maximum width was 95 yards.
The fourth and final tornado of the night in the NWS Hastings coverage area was an EF-1 that took place near Silverlake Road in Adams County.
NWS Hastings states that this short lived tornado moved across far southern Adams County, just northwest of Blue Hill.
This tornado had an estimated peak wind speed of 95 mph based upon damage to a large outbuilding at one farmstead along the path.
This included a large door buckling and the east side wall blowing out. Two pivots in the area were damaged and others flipped. There was extensive tree damage in the area as well.
Eventually the tornado moved through another farmstead causing damage to a barn and trees. NWS Hastings said that three horses died as the result of the storm.
Residents of both farmsteads which sustained damage credited the Wire Emergency Alert which they received on their phone and warned them of the tornado.
To the west, NWS North Platte recorded a preliminary total of six tornadoes (2-EFU, 1-EF0, 2EF1, and 1-EF2). Other tornadoes will be added to the count over the next couple of days.
These additions will be tornadoes that briefly touched down in Hayes, Garden and Keith counties.
The storm complex that moved through central Nebraska during the early morning hours would continue on through the eastern part of the state and into Iowa.
The Storm Prediction Center noted that the storm complex can officially be considered a derecho.
A Derecho must have severe wind gusts, over 58 mph, along a continuous or intermittent swath of at least 400 miles and a width of the swath must be approximately 60 miles or more.
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