46
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
107
Direct injuries
$5.7M
Property damage
Tornado in Knox County, Nebraska: 46 recorded events between 1950 and 2013. The strongest on record measured F2. That places the county #455 nationally and #23 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Knox County, Nebraska: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Knox County is the 1990s, when 12 of the county's 46 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 Knox County archive, tornado makes up 8.4% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #455 for this hazard and #23 within Nebraska, putting it in the 84.3 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for tornado in Knox County with 20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965-05-08 | EF4 | 125.7 mi | 10 yd | Crossed in |
| 2013-10-04 | EF3 | 6.4 mi | 590 yd | Crossed in |
| 1975-05-06 | EF3 | 44.8 mi | 90 yd | Crossed in |
| 1954-06-18 | EF3 | 10.6 mi | 10 yd | Crossed in |
| 1959-05-30 | EF2 | 26.8 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 2007-05-05 | EF2 | 5.5 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 1985-04-20 | EF2 | 35.0 mi | 440 yd | Touched down here |
| 1975-06-21 | EF2 | 0.5 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1950-06-13 | EF2 | 4.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 2009-03-23 | EF1 | 1.8 mi | 75 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 1959 | F2 | 1 | 2 | $250K | |
| Jun 13, 1950 | F2 | 0 | 101 | $25K | |
| May 5, 2007 | CROFTON | EF2 | 0 | 3 | $1.0M |
| Apr 25, 1994 | Bloomfield | F1 | 0 | 1 | $500K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 4, 2013 | CREIGHTON | EF3 | $0 |
| Apr 15, 2012 | SANTEE | EF0 | $0 |
| Apr 15, 2012 | VERDIGRE | EF0 | $0 |
| Mar 23, 2009 | SANTEE | EF1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2007 | CROFTON | EF0 | $0 |
| May 5, 2007 | CROFTON | EF2 | $1.0M |
| May 5, 2007 | BLOOMFIELD | EF1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2007 | BLOOMFIELD | EF0 | $0 |
| May 5, 2007 | WAUSA | EF0 | $0 |
| May 5, 2007 | BLOOMFIELD | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Knox County
- Hail 317
- Thunderstorm Wind 143
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A small tornado touched down about four and a half miles south of Bloomfield. One person was injured as he took cover in a ditch as the tornado approached. Debris from a building fell on him and broke his leg. There was damage to outbuildings and irrigation systems on more than a dozen farms.
This tornado tracked north through a very rural area with most roads in the area minimum maintenance with limited access. A machine shed was destroyed and a trailer overturned northeast of Center and 6 cattle were killed in the area. But generally any damage was confined to old deserted farm sites along with trees in the area.
A brief tornado was observed by a trained spotter in far southwestern Knox county. Before the touchdown, the storm produced several funnel cloud reports as it tracked south along the Holt and Knox county line. The tornado did little or no apparent damage.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Knox County, Nebraska?
46 tornado events are recorded in Knox County between 1950 and 2013, causing 1 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Knox County?
The strongest tornado on record in Knox County measured F2.
Where does the tornado data for Knox 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 Knox County, Nebraska.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/nebraska/knox-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.