A tornado outbreak occurred across Nebraska and Iowa during the
afternoon and evening hours of Friday, April 26, 2024. Several
significant, long-tracked tornadoes damaged or destroyed hundreds,
if not thousands, of homes and businesses across the region.
People across the region were deeply impacted, several were
injured, and there was one fatality. At the National Weather
Service, our hearts are with all of those impacted, including our
friends, our neighbors, and everyone who has been affected by
these devastating tornadoes.
Historically speaking, these are the strongest tornadoes in
eastern Nebraska or western Iowa (the NWS Omaha/Valley coverage
area) in nearly 10 years, when an EF-3 tornado occurred at
Coleridge Nebraska on June 17, 2014. This was one day after four
EF-4 tornadoes impacted northeast Nebraska (including Pilger) on
June 16, 2014.
NWS Omaha/Valley would like to send our sincere appreciation and
thanks to our media partners for sharing the warnings and urging
people to safety in advance of these tornadoes. We would also like
to send our deepest appreciation to emergency management, law
enforcement, and first responders of all kinds who responded to
this disaster. We are also so thankful to our storm spotters who
reported play-by-play tornado information directly to the NWS,
helping us to provide key information in warning products.
NWS Omaha/Valley would like to thank our co-workers from Kansas
City, St Louis, Hastings, and Sioux Falls for coming to assist
with these damage surveys. Your help, years of experience with
high-end damage evaluation, and expertise in these challenging
evaluations is very much appreciated!
Additional storm damage surveys are already planned for parts of
Lancaster and Shelby counties.
~ NWS Omaha/Valley
statistics (For Tornadoes in the NWS Omaha Coverage Area)
Please note that for all of these statistics, the damage surveys
continue, and these will be adjusted. Total Number of Tornadoes:
* Total Number of Tornado Tracks: 19
* Total Track Length of All Combined Tornadoes: 201.7 miles
* Combined time tornadoes were on the ground: 6 hours and 5 min
* Maximum Tornado Wind Speed Based on Ground Level Damage
Assessments: 165 mph
* Maximum Single Tornado Track Length: 40.9 miles
* Maximum Tornado Width: 1 mile (Two of the tornadoes were one
mile wide)
Tornado Counts So Far
(For Tornadoes in the NWS Omaha Coverage Area)
* EF-3: 5
* EF-2: 2
* EF-1: 8
* EF-0: 3
* EF-Unknown: 1
To see the complete report, click HERE.