June 14, 2011: EF0 Tornado In Northern Merrick County

June 14, 2011

Severe Weather Event

Large Hail, Damaging Winds and an EF0 Tornado

To the right is a National Weather Service Radar loop
from 5:20 pm CDT June 14th to 11:00 pm CDT June 14th.

The NWS Hastings coverage area is located within the orange outlined area labeled "GID", with the interstates in red.

(Click Radar Loop To Enlarge)

Severe Weather Summary:

Portions of South Central Nebraska saw strong to severe thunderstorms during the late afternon and evening hours on Tuesday, June 14th. The primary forcing mechanism was an upper level trough swinging through the Northern and Central Plains, and with sufficient shear and instability present across the area, the thunderstorms that did develop were capable of hail anywhere from pea to golf ball size and wind gusts up to 60 mph. In addition, a weak tornado was sighted between the Fullerton and Central City areas (see below). These thunderstorms were generally confined to areas east of a line from Litchfield to Hastings and to Hebron. The golf ball size hail was reported near Clarks (Merrick County) and Spalding (Greeley County).

For a complete listing of the PRELIMINARY storm reports, please click the linked image below.

June 14, 2011 Storm Reports.
Click image for detailed reports.

In addition to the large hail and gusty thunderstorm winds, a weak tornado briefly touched down in northern Merrick County shortly after 8 pm. The following pictures were taken at 8:10 pm near the intersection of Highway 14 and Road V, looking west...

Photo courtesy Cecil Smalley