One monstrous EF-4 tornado is frightening enough, but imagine two of them side-by-side. You don’t have to imagine because it happened in Nebraska in 2014, and there are pictures. The story of the terrifying twin tornadoes.
The terrifying twin tornadoes of 2014
This is the stuff of nightmares. On June 16, 2014, a supercell thunderstorm formed near Pilger, Nebraska.
The atmosphere was warm and moist, and thunderstorms developed during the early morning over central and eastern Nebraska. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), there was a boundary between rain-cooled air to the north and a hot and humid air mass to the south over eastern Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The combination of the boundary and strong vertical wind shear resulted in a volatile atmosphere by mid-afternoon. Thunderstorms kicked up, spitting out large hail, some up the tennis ball size. These conditions were favorable for supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes – and that’s exactly what they did.
According to the NWS, the supercell thunderstorm produced five tornadoes, 4 rated as violent, EF-4, on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Three of the EF-4 tornadoes had a maximum width of 530 yards or greater, while one had a max width of 400 yards. The four EF-4 tornadoes traveled 12.21, 18.41, 11.84, and 16.22 miles, respectively.
Two people were killed, and several dozen were injured in the tornado outbreak. Numerous homes and buildings were destroyed. Damages were in the millions of dollars.
A horrifying sight people will never forget
Residents and even veteran storm chasers will never forget the horrific sight they witnessed that day. Not one, but two gargantuan tornadoes, twisting violently, side-by-side.
A family of tornadoes is called cyclical tornadogenesis.
The Weather Channel reported that experts say the most impressive and unique about the Pilger tornadic supercell was the appearance of two distinct significant, strong, long-lasting tornadoes at once. One tornado may last a little while fairly close to another, but it is rare for them to sustain in the way the Pilger tornadoes did.
Not the first time for twin tornadoes
While it is a very rare occurrence, it has happened before. A massive double tornado was photographed near Dunlap, Indiana, on April 11, 1965.
Another occurred in Greensburg, Kansas on May 4, 2007, in the Texas Panhandle on May 15, 2003, on March 13, 1990, in Hesston and Goessel, Kansas, and in Grand Island, Nebraska on June 3, 1980.
