2024 Elkhorn–Bennington–Blair Tornado Finalized Report

by The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Douglas County, Nebraska

Event Details:

Event	Tornado
-- Scale	EF3
-- Length	15.68 Miles
-- Width	1450 Yards
State	NEBRASKA
County/Area	DOUGLAS
WFO	OAX
Report Source	NWS Storm Survey
NCEI Data Source	CSV
Begin Date	2024-04-26 14:30 CST-6
Begin Location	6SSW WATERLOO
Begin Lat/Lon	41.2/-96.33
End Date	2024-04-26 14:57 CST-6
End Location	2N BENNINGTON
End Lat/Lon	41.393/-96.171
Deaths Direct/Indirect	0/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect	3/0
Property Damage
Crop Damage
Episode Narrative	On the morning of April 26th, a potent negatively-tilted shortwave trough ejected out into the central Plains. Upper air analysis shows a jet streak on the downstream side of this trough with substantial divergence aloft over Nebraska. At the surface, morning cloud cover and drizzle across much of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa quickly gave way to partly cloud skies as a warm front moved north through the area, just after noon. At the same time, thunderstorms initiated along a pacific front/dryline in south-central Nebraska. One supercell produced several tornadoes from south-central Nebraska into Boone County, resulting in an EF-2 tornado just west of Cedar Rapids. A second round of supercells initiated in Jefferson and Saline counties. These long-track supercells produced the worst tornado outbreak the Omaha WFO has seen in 10 years. 5 EF-3 tornadoes were surveyed, with several of these tornadoes just shy of an EF-4 rating. One of these EF-3 tornadoes impacted the northeast side of Lincoln, Nebraska where 70 people were reported trapped in a manufacturing plant that collapsed as the tornado passed. Another long-track EF-3 tornado hit portions of Elkhorn, Bennington and Blair, Nebraska. Eppley Airfield was hit by the third EF-3 tornado of the day, doing damage to aircraft hangars on the southeast side of the airport before hitting homes in far western Pottawattamie County. The last two EF-3 tornadoes of the day both impacted portions of Pottawattamie County. While one remained primarily in rural areas in the central part of the county, the final EF-3 of the day hit the town of Minden, Iowa head-on, resulting in 1 fatality and 3 injuries. This was the only fatality of the entire event. This tornado continued into Shelby County, narrowly missing the towns of Tenant and Harlan. A total of 24 tornadoes were confirmed across both Nebraska and Iowa portions of the Omaha CWA. The strongest tornado was the EF-3 that impacted Elkhorn and Blair, with peak estimated wind speeds at 165 miles per hour. Along the warm front the day prior, scattered thunderstorms developed along the Kansas-Nebraska border during the evening hours. Most of these storms were sub-severe, however, one thunderstorm produced severe hail in and north of Odell, Nebraska for around ten minutes just before 9 pm CDT.
Event Narrative	This tornado developed about one quarter mile west of the West Q Road and 255th Street intersection in Western Douglas County where trees were knocked down and a farmstead sustained outbuilding damage. The tornado continued northeast crossing agricultural fields and flipping numerous center pivots, eventually crossing 252nd Street. The tornado caused EF-2 damage as it approached Highway 92, damaging numerous homes and striking an acreage northwest of Highway 92 (West Center Street) and Highway 275 intersection. Several center pivots were overturned as the tornado continued northeast crossing east of Highway 275, causing EF-2 damage to several acreages, homes, and outbuildings along Highway 275 and 240th Street. Continuing northeast, the tornado crossed 234th Street near Harney Street where it damaged a horse farm and an acreage as well as a home along Dodge Street/Highway 6 before crossing Dodge Street causing roof and outbuilding damage at the Junkstock Farm. The tornado crossed the Elkhorn River, damaging trees and flipping center pivots in an acreage along Blondo Street just south of the railroad tracks. The tornado continued into the western part of Elkhorn approximately one half mile south-southwest of the intersection of West Maple Road and 216th Street. Several homes sustained high-end EF-2 damage with homes losing large sections of their roofs and one home being shifted off its foundation. The tornado moved across Prospect Hills Cemetery, damaging headstones, and moved across West Maple Avenue severely damaging a landscape business before entering the Ramblewood subdivision. Numerous homes in the subdivision received EF-3 damage with only small interior rooms standing. EF-3 damage persisted as the tornado continued northward damaging homes between 212th Street and Kestrel Parkway, again leaving only interior rooms standing. The tornado then crossed Fort Street about one-third of a mile east of 216th Street, causing the collapse of new development homes. This damage was also consistent with that of an EF-3 tornado. The tornado then veered to the northeast across mainly rural areas of northwestern Douglas County, between Fort Street and Military Road. By the time the tornado crossed Highway 31, it reached its peak width of 1 mile wide. EF-1 damage was noted in this area with several power poles and trees snapped. The tornado narrowed to about one-half mile wide and moved into a residential development just northwest of the intersection of 180th Street and Military Road, where EF-1 damage was observed due to the loss of roofs. The tornado then moved into Bennington���s Newport Landing neighborhood, causing high-end EF-2 damage by removing large sections of several homes' roofs and collapsing outside walls. The tornado then moved across Newport Landing Lake, crossing just west of the intersection of Highway 36 and 168th Street, snapping the tops off of numerous trees. It then moved across agricultural land, damaging farm outbuildings southeast of the intersection of 168th Street and Dutch Hall Road, before crossing into Washington County. The peak estimated wind speed of the Douglas County segment of this tornado was 160 miles per hour, observed at a house on North 216th Street just south of the Prospect Hill Cemetary. All walls of this home were collapsed. However, the walls were not attached to the foundation in a way that would discriminate between EF-3 and EF-4 damage. Thus, high-end EF-3 damage was determined. The maximum width of the tornado in this segment was 1450 yards, with an average width of approximately 900 yards.

Washington County, Nebraska

Event Details:

Event	Tornado
-- Scale	EF3
-- Length	10.44 Miles
-- Width	1900 Yards
State	NEBRASKA
County/Area	WASHINGTON
WFO	OAX
Report Source	NWS Storm Survey
NCEI Data Source	CSV
Begin Date	2024-04-26 14:57 CST-6
Begin Location	3E WASHINGTON
Begin Lat/Lon	41.393/-96.171
End Date	2024-04-26 15:18 CST-6
End Location	2NNW DE SOTO
End Lat/Lon	41.531/-96.089
Deaths Direct/Indirect	0/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect	1/0
Property Damage
Crop Damage
Episode Narrative	On the morning of April 26th, a potent negatively-tilted shortwave trough ejected out into the central Plains. Upper air analysis shows a jet streak on the downstream side of this trough with substantial divergence aloft over Nebraska. At the surface, morning cloud cover and drizzle across much of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa quickly gave way to partly cloud skies as a warm front moved north through the area, just after noon. At the same time, thunderstorms initiated along a pacific front/dryline in south-central Nebraska. One supercell produced several tornadoes from south-central Nebraska into Boone County, resulting in an EF-2 tornado just west of Cedar Rapids. A second round of supercells initiated in Jefferson and Saline counties. These long-track supercells produced the worst tornado outbreak the Omaha WFO has seen in 10 years. 5 EF-3 tornadoes were surveyed, with several of these tornadoes just shy of an EF-4 rating. One of these EF-3 tornadoes impacted the northeast side of Lincoln, Nebraska where 70 people were reported trapped in a manufacturing plant that collapsed as the tornado passed. Another long-track EF-3 tornado hit portions of Elkhorn, Bennington and Blair, Nebraska. Eppley Airfield was hit by the third EF-3 tornado of the day, doing damage to aircraft hangars on the southeast side of the airport before hitting homes in far western Pottawattamie County. The last two EF-3 tornadoes of the day both impacted portions of Pottawattamie County. While one remained primarily in rural areas in the central part of the county, the final EF-3 of the day hit the town of Minden, Iowa head-on, resulting in 1 fatality and 3 injuries. This was the only fatality of the entire event. This tornado continued into Shelby County, narrowly missing the towns of Tenant and Harlan. A total of 24 tornadoes were confirmed across both Nebraska and Iowa portions of the Omaha CWA. The strongest tornado was the EF-3 that impacted Elkhorn and Blair, with peak estimated wind speeds at 165 miles per hour. Along the warm front the day prior, scattered thunderstorms developed along the Kansas-Nebraska border during the evening hours. Most of these storms were sub-severe, however, one thunderstorm produced severe hail in and north of Odell, Nebraska for around ten minutes just before 9 pm CDT.
Event Narrative	This segment of the tornado is a continuation of the EF-3 tornado that tracked through western Douglas County. After crossing Dutch Hall Road into southern Washington County, the tornado damaged homes and farm outbuildings between County Road 29 and County Road 31 from Dutch Hall Road to County Road 36. The width of the tornado at this time ranged from one-third to one-half mile wide. The most significant damage was sustained to a home, machine shop and horse barn, one-third of a mile southeast of the intersection of County Road 40 and County Road 29. Trees were snapped and debarked, the house was moved from its foundation, flatbed and horse trailers rolled or lofted, and the machine shop and horse barns destroyed. The storm damage survey following this tornado determined high-end EF-3 damage occurred here. At least one horse was killed, and several others were injured. After this, the tornado crossed the intersection of County Road 36 and County Road 31, producing EF-0 to EF-1 damage in the form of partial roof and siding loss to farm buildings and manufactured homes, plus the snapping of large tree limbs. As it approached State Highway 133, several homes and farm outbuildings sustained EF-2 damage due to the loss of roofs or exterior walls. Crossing Highway 133, the tornado was just less than one-half mile wide, and moved into residential areas generally between County Road 32 and US Highway 75. The most significant damage of the whole tornado track occurred near the intersections of County Road P30 and County Road 33 with nearly the complete destruction of several homes. High-end EF-3 damage was determined at this location. Peak winds in this area were estimated to be 165 miles per hour. The tornado crossed US Highway 75 about 2 miles southeast of Blair moving across the very southern portion of the Cargill plant. The tornado weakened and narrowed, but snapped power poles and derailed several empty rail container cars from the tracks, resulting in EF-1 damage. The peak width of the tornado during this segment of its track was 1900 yards wide, with an average width of around 1000 yards. The tornado continued into southwestern Harrison County in Iowa where it dissipated shortly after crossing US Highway 30.

Harrison County, Iowa

Event Details:

Event	Tornado
-- Scale	EF1
-- Length	5.77 Miles
-- Width	350 Yards
State	IOWA
County/Area	HARRISON
WFO	OAX
Report Source	NWS Storm Survey
NCEI Data Source	CSV
Begin Date	2024-04-26 15:18 CST-6
Begin Location	7SSW MODALE
Begin Lat/Lon	41.531/-96.089
End Date	2024-04-26 15:31 CST-6
End Location	2SSE MODALE
End Lat/Lon	41.59/-96.01
Deaths Direct/Indirect	0/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect	0/0
Property Damage
Crop Damage
Episode Narrative	On the morning of April 26th, a potent negatively-tilted shortwave trough ejected out into the central Plains. Upper air analysis shows a jet streak on the downstream side of this trough with substantial divergence aloft over Nebraska. At the surface, morning cloud cover and drizzle across much of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa quickly gave way to partly cloud skies as a warm front moved north through the area, just after noon. At the same time, thunderstorms initiated along a pacific front/dryline in south-central Nebraska. One supercell produced several tornadoes from south-central Nebraska into Boone County, resulting in an EF-2 tornado just west of Cedar Rapids. A second round of supercells initiated in Jefferson and Saline counties. These long-track supercells produced the worst tornado outbreak the Omaha WFO has seen in 10 years. 5 EF-3 tornadoes were surveyed, with several of these tornadoes just shy of an EF-4 rating. One of these EF-3 tornadoes impacted the northeast side of Lincoln, Nebraska where 70 people were reported trapped in a manufacturing plant that collapsed as the tornado passed. Another long-track EF-3 tornado hit portions of Elkhorn, Bennington and Blair, Nebraska. Eppley Airfield was hit by the third EF-3 tornado of the day, doing damage to aircraft hangars on the southeast side of the airport before hitting homes in far western Pottawattamie County. The last two EF-3 tornadoes of the day both impacted portions of Pottawattamie County. While one remained primarily in rural areas in the central part of the county, the final EF-3 of the day hit the town of Minden, Iowa head-on, resulting in 1 fatality and 3 injuries. This was the only fatality of the entire event. This tornado continued into Shelby County, narrowly missing the towns of Tenant and Harlan. A total of 24 tornadoes were confirmed across both Nebraska and Iowa portions of the Omaha CWA. The strongest tornado was the EF-3 that impacted Elkhorn and Blair, with peak estimated wind speeds at 165 miles per hour.
Event Narrative	This segment is a continuation of the EF-3 tornado that went through western Douglas and Washington Counties. Upon entering far southwestern Harrison County, the tornado moved across the Missouri River, crossing Highway 30 and the Union Pacific Rail line about one mile east of the Iowa-Nebraska state line. Several trees were snapped and broken, producing EF-0 damage. The tornado then moved across bottomland and agricultural areas, snapping or uprooting several trees and tipping center pivots, producing EF-0 to EF-1 damage. The tornado dissipated approximately 2 miles southwest of Modale, Iowa at 4:29 pm CDT. Peak estimated winds during this segment of the tornado track were estimated at 90 miles per hour. The peak width of the tornado during its track in Harrison County was estimated to be around 350 yards, with an average width of 100 yards.