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.

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