Update On January 17 Dubois County Tornado

NWS Louisville has posted an update regarding the Dubois county EF1 tornado from January 17.  The path length has been extended to 9 miles.



PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
547 PM EST THU JAN 19 2012 
  
..UPDATE TO EF-1 TORNADO IN DUBOIS COUNTY INDIANA

DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
       DATE: JAN 17 2012
START TIME: 9:54 AM EST
   END TIME: 10:03 AM EST
WIND SPEED: 95 MPH
PATH LENGTH: 9 MILES
PATH WIDTH: 100 YARDS

NARRATIVE: AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF 
HUNTINGBURG, DESTROYING A BARN AND BLOWING SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS OFF 
THEIR FOUNDATION ON A FARM ON COUNTY ROAD 350S. THE TORNADO SKIPPED 
EAST-NORTHEAST FOR NEARLY 9 MILES, ACROSS PRIMARILY OPEN FIELDS. 
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG INDIANA HIGHWAY 162, WHERE OVER 50 
FEET OF A 600 FOOT LONG COMMERCIAL OUTBUILDING WAS DESTROYED. 
ONE-HALF MILE EAST OF HIGHWAY 162, SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED
ON A FARM AND A SMALL GRAIN HOPPER WAS TOPPLED. CONTINUING 
EAST-NORTHEAST, A ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF ONE BARN, AND ANOTHER BARN HAD 
ROOF SECTIONS PEELED OFF ON ST. ANTHONY ROAD WEST. THREE TREES WERE 
BLOWN ONTO A HOME AT THE SAME LOCATION. OCCASIONAL UPROOTED AND 
SNAPPED TREES OCCURRED FOR AN ADDITIONAL 5 MILES BEFORE THE TORNADO 
DISSIPATED AFTER DESTROYING A 40 BY 50 FOOT TOOL SHED 1.6 MILES 
SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF CELESTINE.          

NWS Confirms Two Additional Tornadoes From January 17

The NWS in Louisville has confirmed two more tornadoes from the January 17 event, bringing the total to 5.  Both tornadoes struck Dubois county.  Here are the details:


 
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED ISSUANCE TIME/DATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
525 PM EST WED JAN 18 2012  

  
..EF-0 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN DUBOIS COUNTY INDIANA

DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
       DATE: JAN 17 2012
START TIME: 9:44 AM EST
   END TIME: 9:44 AM EST
WIND SPEED: 80 MPH
PATH LENGTH: 0.1 MILES
PATH WIDTH: 25 YARDS

NARRATIVE: EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 2.7 MILES SW OF HUNTINGBURG. AN 
OUTBUILDING WAS DESTROYED, AND DEBRIS WAS SCATTERED FOR ANOTHER 
QUARTER MILE.  
  


 
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
525 PM EST WED JAN 18 2012     

..EF-1 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN DUBOIS COUNTY INDIANA

DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
       DATE: JAN 17 2012
START TIME: 9:53 AM EST
   END TIME: 9:55 AM EST
WIND SPEED: 90 MPH
PATH LENGTH: 1.9 MILES
PATH WIDTH: 100 YARDS

NARRATIVE: EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 5 MILES NE OF HUNTINGBURG. 
NUMEROUS OUTBUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED AND A SMALL GRAIN HOPPER WAS 
TOPPLED. DOZENS OF TREES WERE DOWNED BEFORE THE TORNADO LIFTED, 6.9 
MILES NE OF HUNTINGBURG.  
  

NWS Confirms Tornado In Dubois County

The NWS in Louisville has confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in Dubois county in the early morning hours of June 26.  Here are the details:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
221 PM EDT SUN JUN 26 2011     

..EF-1 TORNADO IN DUBOIS COUNTY EARLY ON JUNE 26 2011...UPDATED


DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
BEGIN TIME:  2:54 AM EDT
END TIME:    2:57 AM EDT
BEGIN POINT: 0.4 MILE NORTH OF DUFF
END POINT:   1.9 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DUFF
EF SCALE:    EF-1
WIND SPEED:  95 MPH  
PATH LENGTH: 2.2 MILES
PATH WIDTH:  130 YARDS
INJURIES:    0
FATALITIES:  0


NARRATIVE: IN AND AROUND DUFF SEVERAL HOMES HAD MINOR DAMAGE AND 
NUMEROUS SOFTWOOD AND HARDWOOD TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED.
   

Dubois County Tornado "Bonanza" One For The Record Books

With 2 confirmed tornadoes on Wednesday, Dubois county raised its 2011 total to 8 tornadoes.  If that seems like a lot, you are correct.  That is the most tornadoes in any Indiana county in one year since records have been kept.  What is perhaps more amazing is that it is more tornadoes than Dubois county had in the previous 40 years COMBINED!  Increased reporting and surveying with time likely plays a role but it seems that this has been a real hot spot this year.

Here is a list of Dubois county tornadoes from 1950-2010:

26 Tornadoes Confirmed In Tuesday-Wednesday Outbreak, Second Most On Record



Click For Larger Image

Wow, what an event.  With a total of 26 tornadoes, this is the biggest April outbreak on record and the second biggest in any month (37, 6/2/1990).  I had discussed the chance of tornadoes in a previous post but I was not expecting something like this, especially since the storms had transitioned into a more linear mode by the time they moved in from Illinois.  In a counterintuitive twist, with the instability/shear parameters being very favorable for tornadoes, perhaps the linear nature helped this outbreak be so prolific since it was unfavorable for long-lasting circulations/single tornadoes? 

Where should this outbreak rank among the all-timers?  Most of the tornadoes were relatively brief with no real standout, although total damage is still likely to run into the millions of dollars.  26 is certainly an impressive number, but despite being the second biggest outbreak on record, there were no violent tornadoes and only 4 EF2's.  Part of the problem in trying to compare modern outbreaks to those in past years is that more tornadoes are documented nowadays.  This event had more documented tornadoes than the 1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak and even the Super Outbreak, but I can't possibly claim that this one should rank among those.  Any attempt to rank outbreaks should employ a more complete approach than just looking at raw count, but even then you're at the mercy of imperfect data.  The lack of a violent, long track or high-impact tornado will make this event a little less memorable, but make no mistake, this was an impressive day that deserves to be recognized and remembered for many years to come.

A few notable aspects of this outbreak:

- 18 out of 26 tornadoes occurred in the 75 minute window between 11:15 PM and 12:30 AM

- Dubois county had 5 tornadoes, tied for the most in any Indiana county in one day since records have been kept.

- Anti-photogenic to the extreme - we're going on 4 days and I still haven't seen any pictures/video of a single tornado (Illinois footage doesn't count!).


We now stand at 30 tornadoes for the year, which is already above average.  With an active pattern continuing for the forseeable future, we will probably add to this total in the coming days.  Stay tuned...