Tornado’s

[Coyote]

Tracing the path of the deadly tornado in Omaha on Easter 1913


Survivor remembers deadly tornado in Omaha on Easter in 1913


Historian shows path of 1913 tornado in Omaha


Remembering the deadly tornado in Omaha on Easter in 2013

[ChadJK]

Coincidentally, I was just wandering through the Walgreens at 180th & Q on Monday evening and they have a small section of books about Omaha and Nebraska. One of them was Omaha's Easter Tornado of 1913.

[Athomsfere]

Random question on Tornados.

One of the Reddit communities asked why Omaha receives so many more Tornados than Lincoln. I had a hard time getting that the premise of the question was even true.

Anyone know if Omaha actually gets more tornados at all?

[stormchaser]

Random question on Tornados.

One of the Reddit communities asked why Omaha receives so many more Tornados than Lincoln. I had a hard time getting that the premise of the question was even true.

Anyone know if Omaha actually gets more tornados at all?

Omaha actually really doesn't get hit very often at all with more frequent tornadoes occuring in western/central parts of Nebraska though they don't typically do a ton of damage since obviousy those areas tend to be very rural. Western Nebraska tornadoes in particular are more frequently "landspout" tornadoes and consequently more often on the weaker side.

Several counties west/southwest of Lincoln tend to have the most tornadoes in the state on average (though that can vary drastically from year to year).

Lincoln is a smaller community than Omaha and consequently the odds of it getting hit are going to be less just based on that alone. Either way, it's really tough to say one gets hit more "frequently" than the other. Omaha has had more signficant tornadoes at least - the 1913 one and the 1975 one in particular - but it's been a long time since we've seen anything like that so, unfortunately, we are due (just a matter of time but hopefully it never happens again obviously).

One possible reason tornaodes tend to miss Lincoln/Omaha is based on an unprovable (albeit logical) theory known as the "heat island effect". Basically the amount of shingled houses, darker surface parking lots, roads, all glass buildings, etc found in larger cities all contribute to making the temporature in a city sometimes several degrees warmer than on the outside of a city during warm weather. As a result, this tends to put a boundary/small wind shift on the outskirts of a city. This boundary can act as minature warm fronts and if this occurs at the right height aloft, it can aide in causing an increased risk for tornadoes in that area. Many like to refer to this as the "Omahadome" as it can also appear to steer storms around a city (if a storm embeds on the boundary) or more frequently the hotter air kills or weakens a storm as it gets close or moves in to the city.

[almighty_tuna]

[Athomsfere]

Random question on Tornados.

One of the Reddit communities asked why Omaha receives so many more Tornados than Lincoln. I had a hard time getting that the premise of the question was even true.

Anyone know if Omaha actually gets more tornados at all?

Omaha actually really doesn't get hit very often at all with more frequent tornadoes occuring in western/central parts of Nebraska though they don't typically do a ton of damage since obviousy those areas tend to be very rural. Western Nebraska tornadoes in particular are more frequently "landspout" tornadoes and consequently more often on the weaker side.

Several counties west/southwest of Lincoln tend to have the most tornadoes in the state on average (though that can vary drastically from year to year).

Lincoln is a smaller community than Omaha and consequently the odds of it getting hit are going to be less just based on that alone. Either way, it's really tough to say one gets hit more "frequently" than the other. Omaha has had more signficant tornadoes at least - the 1913 one and the 1975 one in particular - but it's been a long time since we've seen anything like that so, unfortunately, we are due (just a matter of time but hopefully it never happens again obviously).

One possible reason tornaodes tend to miss Lincoln/Omaha is based on an unprovable (albeit logical) theory known as the "heat island effect". Basically the amount of shingled houses, darker surface parking lots, roads, all glass buildings, etc found in larger cities all contribute to making the temporature in a city sometimes several degrees warmer than on the outside of a city during warm weather. As a result, this tends to put a boundary/small wind shift on the outskirts of a city. This boundary can act as minature warm fronts and if this occurs at the right height aloft, it can aide in causing an increased risk for tornadoes in that area. Many like to refer to this as the "Omahadome" as it can also appear to steer storms around a city (if a storm embeds on the boundary) or more frequently the hotter air kills or weakens a storm as it gets close or moves in to the city.

I was really just looking for any stats. Like Omaha 4 in the last 200 years, Lincoln 3.

I remember one hit west O like 5 years ago, but there wasn't really any damage as I recall. But I assume someone tracks any touchdowns.

I just don't know that the premise of the question is even true. For all I know, Lincoln has had the same or even more tornados, but Omaha's were just more visible (more damage, loss of life).

[stormchaser]

I was really just looking for any stats. Like Omaha 4 in the last 200 years, Lincoln 3.

I remember one hit west O like 5 years ago, but there wasn't really any damage as I recall. But I assume someone tracks any touchdowns.

I just don't know that the premise of the question is even true. For all I know, Lincoln has had the same or even more tornados, but Omaha's were just more visible (more damage, loss of life).

I'm sure the NWS has that info but it's a little tough to find exact totals online.

That said, it's clear that Omaha has been hit mroe frequently than Lincoln based on the tornado tracks anyway. Again, this obviously has a lot to do with the different sizes of the cities themselves...and just plain luck (Lincoln has barely dodged a bunch of them over the years).

Below are tornado tracks and intensities over the last 100+ years for both cities. Keep in mind, some of these may not have actually hit the cities despite how it appears since both cities have obviously grown so a track may look like it hits but at the time, the cities may not have been large enought to be hit by it.

Lincoln:


Omaha:

[Athomsfere]

Oh, yes! That's super interesting to look at. Omaha seems to have a lot more tracks within the current city. But less tracks overall.

Lincoln, way more tracks overall but almost nothing inside the city limits.

Are these at the same scale?

[Athomsfere]

Additional notes:
https://www.thetravel.com/usa-cities-to ... a-nebraska
Omaha seems better off than Lincoln, Wichita being slightly larger in land area... Unless they were counting the metros.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... rge_cities
Shrevport, St Louis (best city in Mo), Jackson, Lubbock, Nashville, OKC: Avoid these cities if tornadoes are one of your primary fears.

[stormchaser]

Oh, yes! That's super interesting to look at. Omaha seems to have a lot more tracks within the current city. But less tracks overall.

Lincoln, way more tracks overall but almost nothing inside the city limits.

Are these at the same scale?

Probably not - you can go to this page though (which shows Lincoln) and then scroll over to Omaha to see it at the same scale:

https://tornadoarchive.com/home/tornado ... E)F4,(E)F5

[damonhynes]

Oh, yes! That's super interesting to look at. Omaha seems to have a lot more tracks within the current city. But less tracks overall.

Lincoln, way more tracks overall but almost nothing inside the city limits.

Are these at the same scale?

Probably not - you can go to this page though (which shows Lincoln) and then scroll over to Omaha to see it at the same scale:

https://tornadoarchive.com/home/tornado ... E)F4,(E)F5

That's a wonderful resource. Thanks!