103
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
8
Direct injuries
$4.5M
Property damage
Tornado in Cherry County, Nebraska: 103 recorded events between 1953 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #44 nationally and #2 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Cherry County, Nebraska: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Cherry County is the 2010s, when 23 of the county's 103 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Cherry County archive, tornado makes up 7.0% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #44 for this hazard and #2 within Nebraska, putting it in the 98.5 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for tornado in Cherry County with 41 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-08-11 | EF3 | 0.5 mi | 900 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-05-18 | EF3 | 18.8 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1962-06-15 | EF3 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-04-27 | EF2 | 11.4 mi | 880 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-04-27 | EF2 | 0.0 mi | 20 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-04-27 | EF2 | 19.1 mi | 2,250 yd | Crossed in |
| 2009-07-13 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 20 yd | Touched down here |
| 1999-06-04 | EF2 | 19.0 mi | 250 yd | Crossed in |
| 1977-05-18 | EF2 | 19.7 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-07-10 | EF2 | 15.9 mi | 30 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 16, 1962 | F3 | 0 | 6 | $250K | |
| Jun 21, 1980 | F1 | 0 | 2 | $25K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EFU | $0 |
| Jul 21, 2025 | VALENTINE | EFU | $0 |
| Jul 15, 2025 | BROWNLEE | EF0 | $10K |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EF2 | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EF2 | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EFU | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EFU | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EFU | $0 |
| Apr 28, 2025 | MERRITT RES | EFU | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Cherry County
- Hail 940
- Thunderstorm Wind 375
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado touched down 2 miles southeast of Merriman and moved southeast to 7 miles south of Eli before lifting. Trees were uprooted and windows were broken out of a house. Extensive damage was done to popcorn crops and alfalfa hay fields. Nine center pivot irrigation systems were destroyed. A stretch of power lines was snapped off along highway 20 and also along a road south of Eli as the tornado moved southeast.
A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that touched down over an open field approximately 1/4 mile to the southeast of a farmstead. As the tornado moved northeast, it destroyed a shed used for storing agricultural machinery, damaged a horse trailer, and snapped off several power poles. The tornado continued moving northeast across another open field before hitting another farmstead where it rolled a moble home, lifted a two-story 2 car garage and dropped it 20 feet north of its foundation totalling the pickup truck in the garage. The tornado also snapped off numerous trees in a shelter belt to the north of the farmstead and several power poles. Seconds before the tornado hit, the male occupant of the home took shelter in a concrete shed to the west of the home.
A tornado touched down a few miles north of Cody and moved south. In the path, the tornado tore the roof off a shop, destroyed a barn, twisted iron feed bunks, and snapped trees in a wind break. The main household was not damaged and no injuries were reported.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Cherry County, Nebraska?
103 tornado events are recorded in Cherry County between 1953 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Cherry County?
The strongest tornado on record in Cherry County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for Cherry County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Cherry County, Nebraska.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/nebraska/cherry-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.