Preliminary Report: Three tornadoes impacted Dawson County

Listen to interview with Hastings National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Mike Moritz.  This was done late Saturday morning before assessment was completed.

A preliminary survey of storm damage by Hastings National Weather Service indicates three tornadoes impacted Dawson County Friday evening.   They note their report assessed the tornado east of Farnam.   The tornado southwest of Farnam is being assessed by North Platte National Weather Service.  Their preliminary report has not been issued as of this posting.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
442 PM CDT SAT MAY 18 2019

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY IN DAWSON COUNTY FOR MAY 17, 2019 TORNADO EVENT...

.OVERVIEW...AT LEAST THREE TORNADOES IMPACTED DAWSON COUNTY
SATURDAY, MAY 17. THE NWS HASTINGS OFFICE CONDUCTED A DAMAGE
SURVEY OF THE AREA. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY (BELOW) TEAMED WITH 
MANY REPORTS FROM THE COUNTY, STORM CHASERS AND RADAR INFORMATION
WERE USED TO COMPILE THIS SURVEY INFORMATION. THE INFORMATION
PRESENTED HERE IS CONSIDERED PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
BASED UPON ADDITIONAL REPORTS WHICH MAY ARISE. THANK YOU TO 
EVERYONE FOR THEIR HELP DURING AND AFTER THE EVENT, IN PARTICULAR
DAWSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. 

.FARNAM TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-1
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    100 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  4.48 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   400 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0

START DATE:             MAY 17, 2019
START TIME:             7:15 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         1.4 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF FARNAM
START LAT/LON:          40.7003/-100.1888 

END DATE:               MAY 17, 2019
END TIME:               7:33 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           4.8 MILES NORTHEAST OF FARNAM
END LAT/LON:            40.7602/-100.1587

SURVEY SUMMARY: THIS TORNADO MAY HAVE STARTED IN FRONTIER COUNTY BUT
THIS SURVEY REPRESENTS ONLY INFORMATION FROM DAWSON COUNTY. THIS EF-1
RATED TORNADO HAD AN ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED OF 100 MPH. THE TORNADO
UPROOTED SOME TREES, CAUSED MINOR DAMAGE TO SOME HOMES AND COMPLETELY
DESTROYED AT LEAST ONE STORAGE BUILDING. THE TORNADO CROSSED THE HIGHWAY
NORTHEAST OF TOWN AND THEN DISSIPATED. THE PATH BECAME INDISCERNIBLE AS
THE STORM APPROACHED ROUGHER TERRAIN AND THE ROAD NETWORK WAS NOT VIABLE
FOR SURVEYING. 

.COZAD TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-1
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    100 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  10.17 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   600 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0

START DATE:             MAY 17, 2019 
START TIME:             7:54 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         1.5 MILES EAST OF COZAD
START LAT/LON:          40.8606/-99.953

END DATE:               MAY 17, 2019
END TIME:               8:10 PM CDT 
END LOCATION:           11 MILES NORTHEAST OF COZAD
END_LAT/LON:            40.9569/-99.8166

SURVEY_SUMMARY: THIS EF-1 RATED TORNADO WAS WITNESSED BY MANY AS IT
FORMED ON THE EAST SIDE OF COZAD, WHERE SOME TREE DAMAGE AND POWER
POLES WERE BROKEN AS IT FORMED. THE TORNADO HAD A 10 MILE PATH AS
IT WEAVED TO THE NORTHEAST ACROSS A RURAL LANDSCAPE WITH PEAK WINDS
OF 100 MPH. ONE HALF OF A LARGE FARM MACHINERY SHED WAS COMPLETELY
DESTROYED AND SEVERAL IRRIGATION PIVOTS WERE UPSET WHICH HELPED
DELINEATE THE PATH. GRAIN BINS WERE LOST AND TREE DAMAGE WAS
SPORADIC ALONG ITS PATH. THE TORNADO WAS REPORTED TO BE RAIN WRAPPED
AT TIMES. THE PATH BECAME INDISCERNIBLE AS THE TORNADO MOVED INTO 
THE HILLS NORTH OF COZAD AND THE ROAD NETWORK BECAME MORE SPARSE. 

.EDDYVILLE TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-0
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    85 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  1.58 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   150 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0

START DATE:             MAY 17, 2019 
START TIME:             8:15 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         7 MILES WEST OF EDDYVILLE
START LAT/LON:          41.0026/-99.7586 

END DATE:               MAY 17, 2019
END TIME:               8:17 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           6.3 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF EDDYVILLE
END_LAT/LON:            41.0227/-99.7441 

SURVEY_SUMMARY: THIS TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY A STORM CHASER TO BE
RAIN WRAPPED AS IT CROSSED HIGHWAY 21. THE TORNADO PATH, WINDSPEED
AND OTHER INFORMATION WERE ESTIMATED FROM THE EYEWITNESS REPORT
AND RADAR INFORMATION. THERE ARE FEW DAMAGE INDICATORS IN THE AREA. 

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES
TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES.

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH

NOTE:
THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENTS AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.