Updated Information On April 19-20 Tornado Outbreak

First off, you can view the original summary of this event here.

The following changes were made to this outbreak:


-NWS North Webster changed their preliminary ruling of 2 tornadoes in Cass County to microbursts.

-NWS Paducah added a 5 mile long EF1 tornado from Warrick to Gibson counties.

-NWS Indianapolis added 2 tornadoes, a 3 mile long EF0 in Tippecanoe county and an 11 mile long EF1 in
Knox county.

-NWS Indianapolis extended the path of the Vermillion county tornado into Montgomery county for a total path length of 31 miles.  It was also downgraded from EF2 to EF1.

-NWS Indianapolis downgraded the Tippecanoe county EF2 to EF1.

-NWS Louisville added 2 tornadoes, a 2 mile long EF1 and a 3 mile long EF0 in Jefferson county.


There was a net gain of 3 tornadoes, increasing the total from 26 to 29 but still ranking this outbreak as having the second most on record.  Here are some updated stats:


Tornadoes by NWS area:

NWS Louisville:  19
NWS Indianapolis:  5
NWS North Webster:  3
NWS Paducah:  1
NWS Wilmington:  1


Tornadoes by intensity:

11 EF0
16 EF1
2 EF2

A Look At Tornadoes Which Have Crossed Into Indiana

Since 1950, Indiana has been struck by nearly 1300 tornadoes.  A very high number - but not all - have occurred entirely within the state boundaries.  The focus of this post is those tornadoes that started in a neighboring state before crossing into Indiana.

In the past 60 years, I found nearly two dozen tornadoes that started in Illinois, Kentucky or Michigan.  I have mapped them and provided a list below.  The text only indicates the last county to be affected in the preceding state and the first county in our state.  The usual caveats apply - namely, paths may be inexact and some tornadoes may not have actually been on the ground as they crossed the state line (since older tornadoes tended to be listed as one long path instead of several smaller ones).

There are a few interesting things in the data.  One, Knox county has been hit by a half dozen twisters passing through from Illinois.  Another noteworthy discovery is that June 2, 1990 is the only day that has had 4 tornadoes pass from Illinois into Indiana.  That day of course owns the largest tornado outbreak in state history.  Also, the tornado that struck the Evansville area on November 6, 2005 tracked from Kentucky into Indiana back into Kentucky and finally back into Indiana due to the shape of the border along the Ohio River.

Tomorrow I will post the tornadoes that started in Indiana before crossing into another state.