A tornado that dropped from the sky in western Nebraska on Sunday evening was likely one of the largest in the state’s history.
Shawn Jacobs, a warning coordinator for the National Weather Service office in North Platte, said the tornado that derailed 130 train cars and destroyed a house was more than a mile wide.
“We recorded it at 2,200 yards across, or about a mile and a quarter,” Jacobs said. “That is the widest tornado ever recorded – again records (go) back to 1950 – for our county warning area, which is western and north-central Nebraska. So, 26 counties.”
According to a report, the EF-2 tornado cut a path more than 21 miles long, starting in northeastern Garden County and continuing to move northeast for more than an hour before dissipating about 11 miles north-northeast of Ashby in Cherry County. Wind speeds peaked at more than 130 mph, based on destruction caused at The Cover Ranch near Hyannis, said Jacobs, who called the tornado “historic.”
“We have data that goes back to 1950, not only for our area but across the state, and there's only been seven recorded tornadoes that have been over a mile in width in the state of Nebraska," he said.
National Weather Service crews are still out documenting storm damage, and on Tuesday they were focusing on areas in Cherry County, including the area around Merritt Reservoir southwest of Valentine.