7 Year Anniversary Of Memorial Day Weekend 2004 Tornado Outbreak

Today marks the 7 year anniversary of what was then the second biggest tornado outbreak in state history (it has since been nudged into third place by 4/19/11).  The preceding days featured a series of severe weather events across the U.S., but on May 30, it was our turn to be in the crosshairs.

Early that day, the Storm Prediction Center issued a Moderate Risk roughly along and west of I-65 with a High Risk farther west in parts of Illinois.  The High Risk was expanded in subsequent outlooks to include most of Indiana:

The event began rather early with the first tornado reported in Owen county a few minutes after 1 PM.  It was the first of 24 tornadoes which occurred in a 9 hour time span.  2 of the tornadoes - Marengo and Peru - were rated F3 with 1 fatality in Marengo. 

Here is a map of the approximate tornado tracks: