SPC Stats
Path length: 23.6 miles
Width: 163 yards
Fatalities: 1
Injuries: 0
Rating: F3
County: Stanton, Cuming, Thurston
There were 3 confirmed tornadoes on June 17, 1954: An F2 in Indiana, F1 in Minnesota and the strongest (and the topic of this summary), an F3 in Nebraska. Per the SPC, the tornado tracked 23.6 miles through Stanton, Cuming and Thurston Counties. When you plot the official start and end coordinates provided in the tornado database, we should include Wayne County. (See map below).
The path started North of Pilger in NE Stanton County. It clipped Stanton/Cuming County border and moved into Wayne County. It dissipated in Thurston County, NW of the town of Thurston. There was 1 fatality SE of Winside. And according to the Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS), we should include 1 injury.
Per the CDNS, there were 10 sets of farm buildings, 1 church, and 1 school destroyed or badly damaged. Thomas Grazulis adds that the church that “disappeared” was about 10 miles NW of Pender. He states 17 farms in Cuming County lost buildings.
Tornado Path
Click Map To Enlarge
SPC coordinates: Start: 40.15 / -101.23 End: 40.27 / -100.53
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the June 1954 Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS) and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 23.6 mile path length.
- Grazulis and Storm Data have a length at 16 miles.
Max Width:
- SPC/NCDC list the width at 163 yards.
- Grazulis has no width listed.
- CDNS says the width was “narrow”.
Counties:
- SPC has the counties in the path as: Stanton, Cuming, Thurston.
- NCDC only has Stanton and Thurston.
- CDNS has no county listing. They just say the path was “North of Pilger to west of Pender.”
- Grazulis has the 3 SPC counties and adds Wayne.
Injuries:
- SPC/NCDC has 0 injuries.
- CDNS/Grazulis list 1 injury.
Sources:
June 1954 Climatological Data National Summary
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 981.
Questions or comments about this summary? Contact us here!
Join the tornado history discussion on our Discord Server!
0 Comments