2011 Tornadoes By Month/Intensity And Month/CWA

Here is a table showing tornadoes by month/intensity and tornadoes by month/county warning area for 2011.  There are 2 tornadoes that crossed CWA boundaries, 1 in May which moved from LMK into IND and 1 in June which moved from PAH into LMK. I gave each CWA a half point for those tornadoes in order to have a consistent total, but obviously in reality IND has had 18, LMK 31 and PAH 11.  Hopefully that makes sense.

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2011 Year In Review

As we move toward the end of 2011, I thought it would be prudent to post a summary of this year's tornadoes.  Here it is month by month.


February:

6 tornadoes occurred, all of them on the last day of the month.  An EF2 tornado cut a 14 mile swath in Dubois county, injuring 1 person.  A separate EF2 struck portions of Gibson and Pike counties.


April:

This was a quiet month for tornadoes until the 19th.  29 tornadoes struck the state on the 19th and into the 20th, the second most in a single outbreak.  This event was followed up on the 23rd by an EF0 tornado in Jackson county.  Three additional tornadoes struck the state on the 26th and 27th, one of them an EF2 which had a 5 mile path through Warrick county.  There were 33 tornadoes in total during April, making it our second most active month on record.


May:

May followed a similar trend as April with a quiet early and middle part of the month.  Then an EF1 tornado in Jasper county kicked things off on May 22.  EF0 tornadoes struck Huntington and Ripley and Dearborn counties on the 23rd.  After a 1 day break, another significant outbreak happened on May 25.  This outbreak produced 22 tornadoes, including several EF2's and an EF3 in Lawrence county.  The Lawrence county tornado began east of Bedford and moved northeast for about 7 miles before lifting.  In all, there were 25 tornadoes in May.


June:

Like the preceding months, much of June was quiet.  The first tornado was a brief EF0 in Perry county on the 19th.  Another tornado struck Harrison county on the 22nd.  Two more tornadoes occurred during the early morning hours of the 26th, bringing the monthly total to 4. 


July:

Only 1 tornado happened in July, a brief EF0 in Newton county on the 23rd.


September:

After nearly 2 months without a tornado, an EF1 hit Jennings county early on the 26th.  An EF0 struck Elkhart county the following day. 


November:

An EF1 tornado touched down in Orange county on the 14th, the only tornado during November.  This was the last tornado of the year, bringing the 2011 total to 72.

Map Of May 25 Tornadoes

Map Of April 19-20 Tornadoes

Map Of February 28 Tornadoes

I will be posting maps of our significant 2011 tornado outbreaks in the next several days.  Kicking things off, here is the February 28 outbreak:

Biggest Winter Tornado Outbreaks Since 1950

Here are some of our biggest tornado outbreaks between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox (roughly December 22-March 21).


February 25, 1956:  9 tornadoes struck central and southern Indiana, injuring 4 people.

March 6, 1956:  7 tornadoes struck northern Indiana with an additional tornado in southern Indiana.  1 person was killed and 35 were injured, mostly in Grant county where a F4 occurred.
 
February 10, 1959:  5 tornadoes hit central and southern Indiana, the strongest being F3 in Knox county.

March 6, 1961:  10 tornadoes occurred, injuring 8 people.

March 19, 1963:  4 tornadoes occurred with 3 of them being F2.  2 people were killed in Washington county.

March 12, 1976:  13 tornadoes struck mainly the northern half of the state, resulting in 2 fatalities and over 40 injuries.  This is the biggest winter tornado outbreak on record.

March 20, 1976:  Occurring barely a week after the March 12 outbreak, this event produced 8 tornadoes including a F4 in Tippecanoe county which tracked into Carroll county.  18 people were injured in all.

March 10, 1986:  8 tornadoes occurred, injuring 48 people.  Also, 1 person was killed in Hancock county.

January 7, 1989:  3 tornadoes struck southern Indiana, injuring 5 people.  One of them, rated F4, crossed from Illinois into Knox county.
 
January 29, 2008:  5 tornadoes touched down making it our biggest January tornado outbreak on record.
3 people were killed in 2 separate tornadoes, one of which affected parts of Knox/Gibson counties and the other in Clark county.

March 8, 2009:  5 tornadoes occurred including an EF3 in Lawrence county which caused 1 injury.

F/EF Scale Ratings By Time Of Day

Below is a graph showing tornado ratings by time of day for tornadoes from 1950-2010.  I've broken it down into six 4 hour time intervals for simplicity.  The graph is fairly self explanatory but there are a few things worth mentioning.  I decided to use Z time since Indiana lies in 2 time zones.  Secondly, this graph is only as accurate as the times given in the NCDC/SPC databases.  Thirdly, some tornadoes were not rated especially prior to the 1970's.  Those tornadoes are shown as "F?"  Finally, each tornado was grouped based on the START time of the tornado.  For example, a tornado starting at 1750z and ending at 1815z would be classified in the 1400z-1759z timeframe.





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Here are the same data as above in text form:


0200z-0559z:

F?:  6
F0/F1:  95
F2/F3:  64
F4/F5:  4

0600z-0959z:

F?:  0
F0/F1:  24
F2/F3:  28
F4/F5:  0

1000z-1359z:

F?:  3
F0/F1:  33
F2/F3:  19
F4/F5:  0

1400-1759z:

F?:  1
F0/F1:  63
F2/F3:  10
F4/F5:  0

1800z-2159z:

F?:  11
F0/F1:  223
F2/F3:  105
F4/F5:  13

2200z-0159z:

F?:  19
F0/F1:  370
F2/F3:  130
F4/F5:  15

2011 Tornado Map

Here is a map of our 2011 tornadoes, drawn to the best of my ability.

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December Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

November 22, 1992 Tornado Outbreak

Today is the anniversary of the November 22, 1992 tornado outbreak.  This outbreak spawned 15 tornadoes in central Indiana and is the largest November tornado outbreak on record here.  Here is a writeup from the NWS in Indianapolis:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=nov22_1992tor

November 15, 2005 Tornadoes

Four tornadoes struck the state on this date in 2005.  Two of them were rated F3 and produced over 30 injuries but fortunately no fatalities.

The first F3 tornado touched down in Daviess county near Washington and proceeded northeast for 12 miles, lifting at Crane Naval Base in Martin County. The tornado was up to 1/4 mile wide at times. The worst damage occurred 4 miles northeast of Montgomery. Despite the amount of damage, only one of the 31 reported injuries was considered serious.  The tornado was only on the ground for 2 miles in Martin County, and was significantly weaker and smaller.

An F1 tornado touched down briefly in northern Lawrence county, damaging two homes. This tornado came from the same supercell that spawned a F3 tornado in Daviess and Martin counties.  The tornado had a path length of 0.2 miles.

The third tornado, F3, touched down in northern Bartholomew county and continued into southeast Shelby county, where it would do the majority of its damage. No one was killed by this powerful tornado, despite areas of severe damage, and only one minor injury was reported. A resident sustained an ankle injury when moving quickly down into his basement with his family to take cover. The worst damage along the tornado's path took place along and near Vandalia Road just east of the town of Geneva, where a large hog farm was severely damaged, and an old farm house was blown off its foundation. The structural integrity of the destroyed home was insufficient to justify a violent rating. Around 25 properties were damaged in this largely rural area, with six declared total losses.
 
The fourth and final tornado touched down in Grant county southwest of the intersection of county roads 200 north and 600 east, traveled northeast and lifted near the intersection of county roads 400 north and 800 east. Damage was confined to a house suffering roof damage, several trees and power lines and grain elevator augers being overturned. The tornado crossed Interstate 69, just north of mile marker 66, which resulted in a semi truck being blown off the highway.  This tornado was rated F1 and had a path length of 3 miles.

NWS Confirms Tornado In Orange County

The NWS in Louisville has confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in Orange county during the early evening of November 14.  Here are the details:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
1231 PM EST TUE NOV 15 2011   
..DAMAGE REPORT

DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO

       DATE: NOV 14 2011
BEGIN TIME: 7:32 PM EST
   END TIME: 7:35 PM EST

BEGIN POINT: 0.7 W PAOLI
  END POINT: 1.3 ENE PAOLI

   EF SCALE: 1 
WIND SPEED: 100 MPH

PATH LENGTH: 2 MILES
PATH WIDTH: 50 YARDS

   INJURIES: 0
FATALITIES: 0 
  

NARRATIVE: THE TORNADO SPUN UP WEST OF STAR FIELD ON THE NORTH SIDE 
OF PAOLI SCHOOL COMPLEX...DESTROYING A 100 YEAR OLD BARN AND HEAVILY
DAMAGING THE ROOFS OF TWO OTHER OUTBUILDINGS.  IT THEN TOOK A LARGE 
SECTION OF ROOFING OFF THE PAOLI POLICE DEPARTMENT BUILDING ON WEST 
MAIN STREET BEFORE SNAPPING SEVERAL TREES ALONG LICK CREEK AS IT 
MOVED EAST-NORTHEAST TOWARD TO CITY SQUARE.  ON THE SQUARE THE 
TORNADO RIPPED THE METAL ROOFS OFF OF REFLECTIONS FLOWER SHOP AND 
LIBERTY FURNITURE.  THREE CHIMNEYS OF THE ORANGE COUNTY COURTHOUSE 
COLLAPSED...MOST LIKELY WHEN HIT BY ROOFING DEBRIS. AFTER CROSSING 
THE SQUARE THE TORNADO CONTINUED MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST FOR ANOTHER 
ONE AND A QUARTER MILES...SNAPPING AND UPROOTING TREES AND CAUSING 
MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES. NEAR THE END OF THE PATH THE 
TORNADO SPREAD DEBRIS FROM A METAL OUTBUILDING...EXTENSIVELY 
DAMAGING A METAL OUTBUILDING ONE TENTH OF A MILE ONTO NORTH MARSHALL 
ROAD. 
  

November 6, 2005 Evansville Tornado

Although there was only one tornado on this date, it was a big one.  This is an ultimate example a tornado hitting a bad place at a bad time - namely, a mobile home park in the wee hours of the morning. This tornado killed 24, injured over 230, and was on the ground for 41 miles as it tracked through Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Spencer counties.  It was deemed a high end F3 and was about a quarter mile wide. This was the deadliest tornado to hit the state in decades.

Track:

Here is a picture of the tornado taken by a hospital security camera:

Detailed Year By Year Tornado Statistics

Here is a table showing various tornado statistics for every year since 1950.

Significant tornadoes/days are down since the 1960's, possibly due to less favorable meteorological setups but probably at least partially due to more rigorous surveys.

Record keeping was still pretty poor in the early 1950's which may explain the very low numbers in those years.








        






November Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

October 31, 1994 Halloween Tornado

I browsed tornado records back to the 1800's and could only find 1 Halloween tornado.  This tornado occurred in Johnson county in 1994 and was a brief F0 with a path length of about one tenth of a mile.  The tornado heavily damaged a barn and threw the debris into a nearby house.  An outbuilding near the barn was lifted off its anchored foundation, turned 90 degrees and deposited intact 10 feet from its foundation.

Revised 2011 Preliminary Tornado Count

Tornado data through July has now been confirmed.  Here are number of tornadoes by date:


2/28:  6
4/19-4/20:  29
4/23:  1
4/26:  2
4/27:  1
5/22:  1
5/23:  2
5/25:  22
6/19:  1
6/22:  1
6/26:  2
7/23:  1
9/26:  1*
9/27:  1*

*preliminary

October 24, 2001 Tornado Outbreak

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the October 24, 2001 tornado outbreak.  This event produced 9 tornadoes in the state, killing 2 and injuring 19.

The first tornado, rated EF0, touched down in northern Warren county at 2:46 PM local time.  It was tracked by storm spotters and was on the ground for approximately one tenth of a mile and caused no damage.

The first in a series of several tornadoes to strike the northern part of the state struck La Porte county around 3:15 PM.  This twister sliced across the county from southwest to northeast and was up to a mile wide.  One woman was killed when her mobile home was destroyed. 

The next tornado touched down just southwest of Crumstown in St. Joseph county and moved northeast.  The most significant damage was across Crumstown, where EF3 damage with a path width up to 3/4 mile occurred. The tornado then moved to near the Michiana Regional Airport and across the Indiana Toll Road.  Two men were injured northwest of South Bend. One man later died from his injuries. 

Another tornado, an EF2 up to three quarters of a mile wide, touched down southeast of Mishawaka.  A separate EF1 tornado touched down about 4 miles northwest of Osceola.

An EF1 tornado touched down in extreme southeastern Marshall county and moved northeast across Kosciusko county and into Noble county where the tornado dissipated near Rome City.  The worst damage was north of Warsaw where 14 people were hurt at a factory when a wall collapsed.

The last tornado to strike northern Indiana touched down in Noble county east of Kendallville.  It produced some damage to homes and warehouses in and near the Kendallville East Industrial park.  The tornado then moved northeast into Dekalb county where EF2 damage occurred around Fairfield Center with significant damage to homes. Then tornado moved southeast of Ashley and then moved into Steuben county doing damage to a barn before lifting north of Steubenville.

Two other tornadoes hit southern Indiana.  An EF0 briefly touched down in Petersburg.  Two houses were unroofed and their windows were blown out.  Two car windshields were shattered by blowing debris.  Metal siding was deposited in power lines. The walls of two businesses were knocked down or cracked. 

The last tornado touched down at 5:29 PM.  It was an EF1 which struck northeast of Williams in Lawrence county, blowing off the roofs of 2 barns and a house.

Percentage Of Tornado Fatalities By F/EF Scale Rating

For the list of dates that had killer tornadoes, click here

The chart below shows the breakdown of Indiana tornado fatalities by Fujita rating for tornadoes from 1950-2010.  As you can see, even relatively weak tornadoes pose a threat to life but fatalities increase noticeably for F/EF3 tornadoes and rapidly increase for violent F/EF4&5 tornadoes.  This makes sense given that even well-built structures generally experience total failure in violent tornadoes. 

Our breakdown is generally similar to the national breakdown of tornado fatalities.  I did not forget about F/EF0 tornadoes - it's just that we have not had a killer tornado of that magnitude.  However, it is important to note that this chart is likely not a perfect representation of tornado fatalities in part due to lack of detail in record keeping.  For example, say a F4 tornado killed 16 people.  The practice has been to attribute all 16 fatalities to the F4 tornado when in reality not all of the fatalities may have occurred in the F4 portion.  Still, there is a valuable message and it is that F/EF4&5 tornadoes are the biggest threat to life.

June 4, 1814 - First Documented Tornado?

Tornadoes have undoubtedly been occurring since long before recordkeeping began.  One of if not perhaps the earliest account in the area is from June 4, 1814 - a time when Indiana wasn't yet a state and was known as the Indiana Territory.  Although details are limited, it appears there may have been at least 2 tornadoes that struck the southwestern portion of the Territory, one north of Vincennes and one near Patoka.  Houses were damaged or destroyed and cattle were killed.  The tornadoes were said to have been between a half mile and a mile wide.


Source:

Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 (Environmental Films, 1993).

Violent Tornadoes 1900-2010

With help from the SPC database and Significant Tornadoes by Tom Grazulis, I have plotted the tracks of F4/F5 tornadoes since 1900.  Ratings from 1900-1949 are from Grazulis with ratings from 1950-2010 courtesy of the NWS.  Post 1950 ratings between Grazulis/NWS agreed in most instances with few discrepancies (which are not shown below).

It is important to keep in mind that the Fujita scale wasn't developed until the 1970's.  Thus, any tornado that occurred prior to then was rated retroactively based on damage photos and descriptions.  The lack of on-site damage surveys for older tornadoes means that the ratings are subject to substantial error and may or may not represent what actually occurred.  Additionally, a number of these tornadoes crossed state boundaries and may have done the violent damage in another state, but they are counted as Indiana hits for the purpose of this post.

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F5 Tornadoes

Here are a list and map of all known F5 tornadoes to strike the state.

October Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

NWS Confirms Tornado In Jennings County

The NWS in Indianapolis has confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in Jennings county shortly after midnight on September 26.  Here are the details:


A small brief tornado occurred in northwest Jennings County early Monday morning, September 26.  The tornado began at approximately 12:33 AM EDT around 6 miles west of North Vernon along County Road 700 West between County Roads 150 North and 300 North.  The tornado destroyed a pole barn and damaged 2 homes before lifting around 12:34 AM EDT.  The path was approximately a half mile long and 75 yards wide.  Based on the damage, the tornado was rated an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale with winds estimated near 100 mph.

NWS Confirms Tornado In Elkhart County

The NWS in North Webster has confirmed that an EF0 tornado touched down in Elkhart county in the early afternoon hours of September 27.  Survey details are provided below.  For more information, including damage photographs, see this page


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
438 PM EDT TUE SEP 27 2011   


..EF0 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN ELKHART COUNTY

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONFIRMED AN EF0 TORNADO ON THE EAST
SIDE OF NAPPANEE. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES
EAST OF DOWNTOWN...BETWEEN COUNTY ROADS 7 AND 9 ALONG US 6. MINOR
ROOF AND TREE DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED. SEVERAL WITNESSES SAW ROTATING
DEBRIS IN THE AIR WITH AN AUDIBLE LOUD ROAR. THE TORNADO WAS RAIN
WRAPPED AND TRAVELED NORTH APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF MILE SKIPPING
ALONG THE PATH. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE WAS ALONG US 6.

PATH LENGTH    0.58 MILES
PATH WIDTH     30 YARDS
RATING         EF0 WINDS ESTIMATED 70-75 MPH  

Biggest Fall Tornado Outbreaks Since 1950

As I did in Summer, I have scanned the tornado database back to 1950 in order to establish our biggest Fall tornado outbreaks.  Here are some of the biggest outbreaks between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice (roughly September 23-December 22).


November 15, 1955:  5 tornadoes struck central and southern Indiana, injuring 9 people.

November 26, 1965:  6 tornadoes struck mainly central Indiana, injuring 8 people.  All of these tornadoes were ranked in the F2-F3 range.

October 24, 1967:  This was the first of multiple significant Fall outbreaks that year.  There were 9 tornadoes in this outbreak with 6 of them F2 or higher.  5 people were injured.

December 11, 1967:  7 tornadoes struck mainly southern Indiana, injuring 1 person.

September 26, 1976:  Although there were only 3 tornadoes, two of them were deadly F3's.  2 people were killed and 12 were injured.

November 22, 1992:  Perhaps the largest Fall tornado outbreak in state history, this outbreak produced 15 tornadoes, many of which occurred in a zone about 40 miles north and south of the I-70 corridor.  10 of the tornadoes were at least F2 with 5 of them F3.  Although no fatalities occurred, 6 people were injured.

October 24, 2001:  9 tornadoes struck the state with the worst of the outbreak occurring in northern areas.  3 tornadoes were rated F2 with another rated F3.  2 people were killed and 19 were injured.

November 15, 2005:  4 tornadoes occurred with 3 of them striking southern Indiana.  2 of the tornadoes were rated F3 and a total of 32 people were injured.

October 18, 2007:  5 tornadoes struck northern and southern Indiana with 2 of them being EF3.  The worst tornado, an EF3, struck Nappanee.

October 26, 2010:  13 tornadoes touched down as part of the historic "Octobomb" low pressure system.  All tornadoes were EF0 or EF1 and no injuries were reported.


Special mention:  On November 6, 2005, a F3 tornado struck the Evansville area, killing 25 people and injuring over 230.  This was the only tornado to occur in the state on that day, but it was the deadliest single tornado here since 1965.

September 20, 2002 Tornadoes

Today marks the 9 year anniversary of the September 20, 2002 tornado outbreak.  When we think about local tornado climatology, we don't tend to think of September as being an active month.  The events of September 20, 2002 - and one tornado in particular - would turn climatology on its head.

The first of 6 tornadoes touched down in Posey county at 9:40 AM local time.  It was on the ground for less than a quarter mile and caused no significant damage.  The same thunderstorm would produce a stronger F2 tornado near Poseyville at 9:50 AM local time.  This tornado destroyed 10 mobile homes and 4 other buildings and had a path length just under 5 miles.

After a break, another tornado would form in northwestern Pike county and move into Knox and Daviess counties.  In Knox county, the tornado destroyed a few homes and damaged several others and peaked at F2 intensity.  A conservation officer in his vehicle was thrown an eighth of a mile by the tornado.  The tornado weakened to F0 as it moved into Daviess county, finally lifting after being on the ground for over 13 miles.

After another break in the action, the most notable tornado of the day touched down in Ellettsville at 12:59 PM local time and started producing F3 damage shortly thereafter.  After weakening and heading northeast into Morgan county, the tornado reintensified and produced more F3 damage in Martinsville.  The tornado remained at F2-F3 strength as it continued northeast into Johnson and Marion counties, producing additional F3 damage at Greenwood.  The tornado took a slight left turn and entered the city of Indianapolis around 1:45 PM, generally producing F1-F2 damage on its trek through the southern and eastern portions of the city.  The tornado exited Marion county just after 2 PM and continued northeast through several more counties, producing its final damage in Hartford City at 3:20 PM.  In all, about 130 people were injured by this tornado with damage in excess of $150 million.

2 other tornadoes occurred simultaneous to the long track tornado.  One of them damaged 10 single family homes and 30 mobile homes in Henry county and was rated F2.  The other tornado destroyed 2 barns and 2 mobile homes in Rush county and was rated F0.

This event probably would've been forgettable were it not for the long-tracked F3 tornado.  This tornado is interesting in several respects:

1) Its path length of 112 miles makes it one of the longest tracked tornadoes to ever hit the state (reanalysis of the April 3, 1974 Monticello tornado reduced the path length from 121 to 108 miles).  The tornado was on the ground for a total of 2 hours and 21 minutes, giving it an average forward speed of about 48 miles per hour.

2) The tornado passed through 9 counties, second most behind the April 3, 1974 Monticello tornado

3) It is the second longest tornado to hit the United States in the month of September since 1950

4) The tornado did not occur as part of a discrete supercell; rather, it formed along a QLCS/squall line

5) Although the tornado was rain-wrapped much of the time and passed through urbanized areas, no deaths occurred      


Here is a map of the tornado paths courtesy of NWS Indianapolis (note:  Posey county tracks not included)

September 12, 1988 Indianapolis Tornado

Still waiting for the May Storm Data to come in so the May tornado statistics can be finalized.  Hopefully this occurs sometime in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, since posts have been lacking as of late, I thought I'd mention that today is the anniversary of a F1 tornado that hit Indianapolis.  The tornado began on the north side of the city and moved northeast through Marion, Hamilton and Madison counties.  Roofs and automobiles were reportedly damaged along the path.  The tornado caused intermittent damage over a path length of about 35 miles and resulted in 1 injury. 

September Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#1 - April 3, 1974 Monticello Tornado


This tornado had it all - considerable deaths, injuries, severe damage and very long track. The path length was originally thought to be 121 miles but after reanalysis it was chopped down to 109 miles. Although this tornado didn't hit any major cities, it caused about $100 million damage in 1974 dollars (over $400 million adjusted to present day!) and heavily damaged/destroyed a good chunk of Monticello. This tornado was rated F4 and killed 19 people, injured more than 400, and was up to a half mile wide.

For more on the Monticello tornado, visit this link

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#2 - April 11, 1965 Russiaville to Greentown Tornado


Beginning in Clinton county, this tornado heavily damaged the town of Russiaville before proceeding northeast. It went on to cause significant damage on the south side of Kokomo and then Greentown. In all, 25 were killed and over 800 were injured by this F4 which was on the ground for nearly 50 miles.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#3 - April 11, 1965 South Bend to Shipshewana Tornado


This was the second tornado to hit Dunlap, Indiana on that fateful day. It killed 36 people, injured about 300 and was on the ground for 37 miles. There has been some debate about whether this was actually an F5, but the official rating is F4.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#4 - April 3, 1974 Depauw Tornado


Part of the Super Outbreak, this F5 twister was on the ground for 68 miles, killing 6 and injuring over 75.  This is one of a very small number of confirmed or suspected F5 tornadoes in state history. 

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#5 - November 6, 2005 Evansville Tornado


This is an ultimate example a tornado hitting a bad place at a bad time - namely, a mobile home park in the wee hours of the morning. This tornado killed 24, injured over 230, and was on the ground for 41 miles. It was deemed a high end F3 and was about a quarter mile wide. This was the deadliest tornado to hit the state in decades.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#6 - April 11, 1965 Crawfordsville to Arcadia Tornado


This very impressive tornado killed 28, injured over 120, and was on the ground for 45 miles. It was reportedly up to a mile wide.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#7 - September 20, 2002 Ellettsville to Hartford City Tornado



This is probably one of the lesser known tornadoes but that doesn't mean it wasn't impressive. It was on the ground for 2 hours and 21 minutes and traveled 112 miles and charged through the south and east side of Indianapolis.  Fortunately, there were no fatalities but over 100 people were injured. This tornado was rated F3 and caused over $100 million in damage.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#8 - April 3, 1974 Henryville/Madison Tornado


11 were killed and approximately 200 injured by this F4 tornado which was on the ground for 35 miles and was over a half mile wide.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

#9 - April 11, 1965 Dunlap Tornado (1st)


This F4 twister killed 14 and injured about 200. It was on the ground for over 20 miles and did serious damage to Dunlap, including the Midway Trailer Park. This was the infamous "double funnel" that was captured on camera by Paul Huffman of the Elkhart Truth.

Top 10 Tornadoes Since 1950

This is the opening post of a series I will do over the next ten days which will rank the ten worst tornadoes in the state since 1950.  This list is highly subjective and is based on a combination of deaths, injuries, strength, path length and width. 


#10 - June 2, 1990 Petersburg Tornado


This 13 mile long tornado was part of our largest outbreak on record. It was rated F4 and did heavy damage to the town of Petersburg, killing several and injuring 60.

August 4, 2008 Tornadoes

Three years ago on this date, a powerful bow echo/derecho plowed across northern Indiana.  In addition to widespread damaging straight line winds, there were 2 tornadoes in the northwest part of the state.  The first tornado, an EF2, began in the Lake county town of Griffith and passed into Gary before dissipating.  The second tornado, a brief EF0, occurred in Benton county near the town of Chase.  Fortunately, nobody was injured. 

August Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

No July Tornadoes This Year?

July is not known as one of our particularly active tornado months, but it has produced a non-trivial amount of activity over the years.  Although information is still preliminary and subject to change, it appears that no tornadoes have been confirmed this month. 

How common is it to have no tornadoes in July?  During the period from 1950-2010, 46 out of 61 years (or 75%) produced at least one tornado.  So while it is uncommon to not have any tornadoes in July, it is not unheard of. 

July 25, 1875 Tornadoes

Today, we take a trip in the time machine back to July 25, 1875.  Little is known about this severe weather event, but it appears there were at least 4 tornadoes.  Two of them were killers - one which struck the Fountain County community of Harveysburg and the other near the Boone/Hendricks county line just southwest of Fayette.  At least 4 people were killed and 14 injured.

Three Additional Tornadoes Confirmed From Late April

Here is some info on the 3 newly added tornadoes from April 26 and April 27:

5 mile long EF2 in Warrick County:

At the initial damage point just southwest of Greenbrier, many trees were snapped or uprooted. As the tornado crossed Highway 61, it demolished a barn and tossed the debris about 50 to 75 yards. Another barn was damaged, and numerous large trees were uprooted and snapped. Several homes suffered roof damage from both the wind and from trees or large branches falling on them. Three telephone poles were snapped on Highway 61. Parts of the damage path were over inaccessible, roadless coal mine property. Peak winds were estimated near 120 mph. The average path width was 300 yards.

========================

1 mile long EF1 in Pike County:

The tornado began on Indiana Route 61 just south of Spurgeon. It travelled northeast across the eastern outskirts of Spurgeon. Numerous trees were snapped at the base. Several trees were uprooted. Several homes received minor roof damage. A barn was damaged, with debris carried a couple hundred yards. A small building was destroyed. Severe straight-line winds caused other damage throughout the town of Spurgeon. Peak winds were estimated near 105 mph. The average path width was 200 yards.

========================

Brief EF0 in Sullivan County:
An EF0 tornado briefly occurred near 621 E. Silver Street in Sullivan, Indiana. Damage was done to a home at this location. There was damage to a roof, one bathroom window was blown out, and a trampoline was blown over. Roof debris was spread out over the owner's lawn, with some shingles blown into a nearby tree and one large piece of ply wood from the roof was blown over the neighbor's house, up into a tree approximately 40 feet high.

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

Updated 2011 Preliminary Tornado Count

Tornado data through April has now been confirmed.  There have been some changes in number and intensity which I will detail in a post in the next day or so, but a quick rundown of tornadoes by date:


2/28:  6
4/19-4/20:  29
4/23:  1
4/26:  2
4/27:  1
5/22:  1
5/23:  2
5/25:  23
6/19:  1
6/22:  1
6/26:  2

Total:  69

Tornado Days By Month For 1950-2010

This post is an expansion of an earlier post regarding tornado days.  The image below shows the number of tornado days for every month of every year since 1950.



July 9, 1980 Rush County Tornado

Today marks the anniversary of one of the strongest July tornadoes ever to occur in Indiana.  It happened in Rush county on July 9, 1980 and produced F4 damage along its 13 mile path, killing 2 and injuring 25.  This tornado initially tracked southeastward before turning more southerly and even southwesterly for a time.

A Look At Tornadoes Which Have Crossed Out Of 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 Indiana and then moved into another state.

In the past 60 years, I found nearly two dozen tornadoes that started here before moving into a neighboring state.  I have mapped them and provided a list below.  The text only indicates the last Indiana county to be affected and the first county to be affected in the next 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).

Note that the November 22, 1992 Switzerland county tornado is also included on this map since it tracked from KY-IN-KY.  The November 6, 2005 Evansville area tornado is shown again as well since it tracked from KY-IN-KY-IN.

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.

   

A History Of July 4 Tornadoes

July 4 is a day that we celebrate by lighting off fireworks, but nature has been known to occasionally provide its own fireworks with tornadoes and other forms of severe weather here.  I was curious to find out just how common Independence Day tornadoes have been over the years.  Although I browsed tornado records back to the 1800's, I could not find any July 4 tornadoes before 1957.  This seems rather improbable and is likely due to poor documentation in earlier years, but I can only post what I know.  I found a total of 7 tornadoes and they are listed and mapped below.  In one instance there was a discrepancy with location which I have noted.

July Tornadoes Per County Since 1950

I changed the scale from previous months since tornado frequency starts to decrease in July.

 

NWS Confirms Tornado In Spencer/Perry Counties

We continue to add to our record setting tornado season as the NWS in Louisville has confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in Spencer and Perry counties on June 26.  Here are the details:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
620 PM EDT MON JUN 27 2011  


...EF-1 TORNADO IN SPENCER AND PERRY COUNTIES IN INDIANA SUNDAY JUNE 
26 2011...


DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
BEGIN TIME:  2:12 AM CDT
END TIME:    2:17 AM CDT
BEGIN POINT: 0.7 MILE SOUTH OF ST. MEINRAD
END POINT:   2.3 MILES EAST OF ST. MEINRAD
EF SCALE:    EF-1
WIND SPEED:  95-100 MPH  
PATH LENGTH: 2.3 MILES
PATH WIDTH:  200 YARDS (MAXIMUM)
INJURIES:    0
FATALITIES:  0


NARRATIVE: THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON THE SOUTHERN END OF THE ST. 
MEINRAD SEMINARY GROUNDS...DESTROYING A CINDER BLOCK OUTBUILDING AND 
TAKING 100 FEET OF ROOFING OFF A LARGE METAL OUTBUILDING. THE 
TORNADO ALSO UPROOTED NUMEROUS TREES AND RIPPED SECTIONS OF ROOFING 
OFF SEVERAL OTHER BUILDINGS BEFORE MOVING OFF TO THE EAST-NORTHEAST. 
IT WEAKENED AS IT MOVED INTO FORESTED HILLS WHERE IT SNAPPED AND 
UPROOTED TREES ON A NARROWING PATH BEFORE LIFTING OFF CATNIP ROAD. 
  

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.
   

Most Frequent Tornado Days Since 1950

I have put together a list of the most frequent tornado days since 1950.  In other words, those calendar days which have produced at least one tornado most often.  Here are all of the days which have produced at least 5 times and I have also included the total number of tornadoes for each day.  Bold represents days which have had tornadoes in every decade with the exception of the current young decade.


April 20...5 days...22 tornadoes
April 28...5 days...5 tornadoes
May 14...5 days...10 tornadoes
May 18...5 days...9 tornadoes
May 25...5 days...10 tornadoes
May 26...7 days...13 tornadoes
May 27...7 days...10 tornadoes
May 28...6 days...11 tornadoes
May 30...7 days...35 tornadoes
May 31...6 days...10 tornadoes
June 4.....5 days...9 tornadoes
June 7.....5 days...13 tornadoes
June 8.....5 days...13 tornadoes
June 11...7 days...17 tornadoes
June 12...8 days...13 tornadoes
June 13...7 days...13 tornadoes
June 14...5 days...11 tornadoes
June 15...5 days...6 tornadoes
June 17...6 days...9 tornadoes
June 21...6 days...6 tornadoes
June 23...5 days...13 tornadoes
June 24...7 days...9 tornadoes
June 28...5 days...8 tornadoes
July 1......7 days...7 tornadoes
July 4......5 days...7 tornadoes
July 9......6 days...9 tornadoes


Interestingly, the day with the greatest number of tornadoes - June 2 - isn't on the list.  While only 3 June 2nds have produced tornadoes, a total of 46 tornadoes have occurred.

NWS Confirms Tornado In Harrison County

The NWS in Louisville has confirmed that an EF0 tornado touched down in Harrison county on June 22.  Here are the details:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED WIND SPEED AND NARRATIVE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
445 PM EDT THU JUN 23 2011
 
 
...BRIEF TORNADO CONFIRMED IN HARRISON COUNTY INDIANA ON THE EVENING 
OF JUNE 22 2011... 

 
DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
BEGIN TIME:  7:27 PM EDT
END TIME:    7:28 PM EDT 
BEGIN POINT: 1.5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF NEW MIDDLETOWN
END POINT:   1.5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF NEW MIDDLETOWN
EF SCALE:    EF-0
WIND SPEED:  70-75 MPH  
PATH LENGTH: ABOUT 600 YARDS
PATH WIDTH:  ABOUT 75 YARDS
INJURIES:    0
FATALITIES:  0 
  

NARRATIVE:   A SMALL AND BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 1.5 MILES 
SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST OF NEW MIDDLETOWN IN HARRISON COUNTY INDIANA 
AROUND 7:27 PM EDT. THE INITIAL TOUCHDOWN POINT WAS IN THE 3900 
BLOCK OF ELIZABETH-NEW MIDDLETOWN ROAD. THE TORNADO DAMAGED A ROW OF 
TREES BEHIND A HOME AND REMOVED SOME FLASHING ON THE HOME. THE 
TORNADO APPARENTLY LIFTED AND CROSSED ELIZABETH-NEW MIDDLETOWN ROAD 
AND HEADED EAST INTO A WOODED AREA. THE TORNADO SNAPPED LARGE LIMBS 
FROM THE TREE CANOPY IN THIS AREA AND LIKELY WAS NOT IN TOTAL 
CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. THE TORNADO LASTED FOR A MINUTE OR LESS. 
THE TREE DAMAGE IS CONSISTENT WITH EF-0 DAMAGE WITH ESTIMATED WINDS 
OF 70-75 MPH.  

NWS Confirms Tornado In Perry County

Well, after going nearly 4 weeks since the last tornado in the state, the NWS in Louisville has confirmed a weak tornado touched down in Perry county on the morning of June 19.  Here are the details:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
500 PM EDT MON JUN 20 2011

ONE WEAK SHORT-LIVED TORNADO CONFIRMED IN EXTREME NORTHEAST PERRY 
COUNTY INDIANA DURING THE MORNING OF SUNDAY JUNE 19 2011 BY A 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY TEAM. 


DAMAGE TYPE: TORNADO
BEGIN TIME:  7:31 AM EDT
END TIME:    7:32 AM EDT 
BEGIN POINT: 1.3 MILES NORTH OF ORIOLE...OR 2.3 MILES SOUTH OF
             SULPHUR SPRINGS ALONG ROUTE 66 IN EXTREME NORTHEAST
             PERRY COUNTY
END POINT:   APPROXIMATELY SAME AS BEGIN POINT
EF SCALE:    EF-0 
WIND SPEED:  75-80 MPH 
PATH LENGTH: APPROXIMATELY 0.2 MILE 
PATH WIDTH:  60-70 YARDS 
INJURIES:    0 
FATALITIES:  0 
  

NARRATIVE: THE EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED JUST WEST OF ROUTE 66...WHERE 
THE ROAD IS ORIENTED SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST IN EXTREME NORTHEAST 
PERRY COUNTY. OBSERVABLE DAMAGE WAS ALL TO TREES ON BOTH SIDES OF 
THE ROAD (MOSTLY SOFTWOOD) WITH 8 TO 10 TREES EITHER UPROOTED... 
BENT OVER...OR SNAPPED OFF. OTHER TREES CLUSTERED IN THE SAME 
LOCATION SHOWED NO VISIBLE DAMAGE. THE DAMAGE LENGTH WAS ESTIMATED
AT 0.2 MILE ALTHOUGH IF THERE WAS ANY TREE DAMAGE FARTHER EAST OF 
ROUTE 66...IT WAS INACCESSIBLE. THE WIDTH OF TREE DAMAGE WAS NARROW
BUT DEFINITIVE WITH NO DAMAGE NORTH OR SOUTH OF THIS AXIS ALONG 
ROUTE 66. NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED. 
  

June 20, 1942 Kokomo Tornado

I haven't done many posts about pre-1950 tornadoes so I will take a couple minutes to discuss the Kokomo area tornado of June 20, 1942.  This violent F4 tornado touched down in the early evening hours south of the tiny Clinton county community of Moran.  It moved east-northeast across northern Clinton county before entering Howard county and taking aim on Kokomo.  The tornado apparently reached maximum intensity in Kokomo where it killed 2 people and heavily damaged the south side of the city before dissipating shortly thereafter.  A total of 4 people lost their lives.  Interestingly, the track was very similar to the April 11, 1965 Palm Sunday tornado.

Here is a map of the approximate path of the tornado:

The meteorological setup was characterized by an upper level trough in the Lakes and a seasonably strong surface low which tracked across the southern Lakes.  Here are the 500 millibar and surface maps from 18z:



Source:

Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 (Environmental Films, 1993).

Biggest Summer Tornado Outbreaks Since 1950

Although tornadoes can and do occur here during Summer, they do not happen as frequently and tend to be weaker than those in Spring.  This is mainly due to the fact that temperature gradients are less intense during Summer and thus the jet stream tends to be weaker and farther north.  This lack of stronger winds aloft is detrimental to the production of strong tornadoes, but they can still occur when conditions come together just right.

I have scanned the tornado database back to 1950 in order to establish our biggest summertime tornado outbreaks.  Here are some of the biggest outbreaks between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox (roughly June 21-September 22).


June 26, 1973:  10 tornadoes struck the state, 9 of which occurred in central/southern Indiana.  The strongest was a F2 near Bloomington.

July 30, 1992:  6 tornadoes occurred, including an F2 in Morgan county and a F3 in Johnson county.  The Johnson county tornado had a path length of about 7 miles and injured 25 people.

September 20, 2002:  6 tornadoes happened with 4 of them rated F2 or higher.  The highlight of this event was the long track F3 tornado that started near Ellettsville and ended near Hartford City in Blackford county.  This impressive tornado had a path length of 112 miles, injured over 100 people and caused more than $100 million damage.    For more on this event, click here

June 23, 2010:  6 tornadoes occurred in northern Indiana, mostly in Elkhart county.  These tornadoes were spawned from a quasi-linear convective system which moved across the area.

August 9, 1969:  5 tornadoes occurred, the most significant being an early morning F3 in Indianapolis which injured 6 people.

September 19, 1988:  5 weak tornadoes struck various parts of the state, injuring 3 people.

July 26, 2005:  5 tornadoes occurred, including a F2 in Cass and Miami counties.  Nobody was injured.

June 27, 2008:  5 brief EF0 tornadoes occurred, one of which injured 2 people in Morgan county.


Special mention:  On July 9, 1980, a F4 tornado struck Rush county, killing 2 people.  Although there was only one other tornado on this date (a weak F0 near Crawfordsville), this event is significant because it is the only known F4 tornado to hit Indiana during the summer.

June 15, 1987 - When Pigs Fly

On June 15, 1987, a F1 tornado touched down northwest of Danville in Hendricks county.  Although this tornado was only on the ground for about a quarter mile, it struck a pig farm and tossed several pigs into the air.

Frequency Of Tornadoes From Remnants Of Tropical Systems

Yesterday was the 6 year anniversary of Tropical Storm Arlene's passage (or at least its remnants) through Indiana.  While these events can bring us heavy rain from time to time, they are usually fairly forgettable.  However, Arlene is a bit of a stand out because it produced 2 tornadoes south of Indianapolis.  That got me thinking - how often do tropical remnants produce tornadoes here?

In an attempt to answer that question, I scanned the National Hurricane Center's records since 1950 (since that is about the time that tornado record keeping began to improve).  It was assumed that a remnant tropical system would've at least needed to reach the latitude of Kentucky to have a substantial chance of producing a tornado in Indiana.  I found 23 such systems which I am not going to list here.  I then chose to narrow the criteria to systems in which the remnant circulation passed through Illinois or Indiana, thus achieving greater latitude and putting us along or east of the track.  I found 14 of those systems and they are listed below:


1960 Tropical Storm #1
1961 Hurricane Carla
1965 Hurricane Betsy
1968 Tropical Storm Cindy
1979 Hurricane Bob
1979 Tropical Storm Claudette
1988 Hurricane Gilbert
1995 Hurricane Erin
2005 Tropical Storm Arlene
2005 Hurricane Dennis
2005 Hurricane Katrina
2005 Hurricane Rita
2008 Hurricane Gustav
2008 Hurricane Ike


In order to determine whether these tropical events produced any tornadoes in our area, I examined tornado records to coincide with the general timeframe that the remnant circulation passed through the area.  In a few cases, tornadoes occurred 1 or 2 days after the remnants passed and it was determined that those tornadoes were caused by a different weather system.  Out of the 14 storms listed above, I can only find 2 storms which were undoubtedly directly responsible for tornado production in the state - Tropical Storm Arlene in 2005 and Hurricane Gustav in 2008.  As previously stated, the remnants of Arlene produced 2 tornadoes, while the remnants of Gustav generated a tornado in Jasper county.

A potential third tornado case is Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.  The remnants of Gilbert moved northeastward through Missouri and Illinois, apparently in association with a significant trough/low pressure system in the Midwest.  5 tornadoes occurred in central and southern Indiana, but it is unclear if these tornadoes were directly caused by Gilbert or the larger weather system.

I have drawn the approximate tracks of Gilbert, Arlene, and Gustav below.    

So, to answer the question of how frequent these types of tornadoes are...not very frequent.  Depending on whether one includes Gilbert, there are either 3 or 8 tornadoes and either figure computes to well less than 1% of Indiana's tornadoes occurring from the remnants of tropical systems.  It is possible if not probable that these events have been underreported to some extent, but the same is probably true for other tornadoes which means that the percentages wouldn't change much.  

Updated Information On May 25th Outbreak

The NWS in Indianapolis has confirmed 2 additional tornadoes from the May 25th outbreak, an EF1 near Terre Haute and an EF0 in Parke county.  Also, they have upgraded the Bedford area tornado to EF3.


Updated numbers for this year, which again are subject to change.

2/28:  6
4/19-4/20:  26
4/23:  1
5/22:  1
5/23:  2
5/25:  23


EF0:  20 (note:  2/28 Clark county tornado was rated EF0 in Indiana and EF1 in Kentucky)
EF1:  27
EF2:  11
EF3:  1
EF4:  0
EF5:  0

3 More Tornadoes Confirmed From May 25th Outbreak; Total Stands At 21

The NWS in Paducah has confirmed 3 more tornadoes from the May 25th outbreak.  One of them was an EF2 southeast of Oakland City in Pike county and the other two EF1's occurred simultaneously south of Winslow in Pike county.  It appears those two are being counted as separate tornadoes.

Updated numbers for this year:

2/28:  6
4/19-4/20:  26
4/23:  1
5/22:  1
5/23:  2
5/25:  21


EF0:  19 (note:  2/28 Clark county tornado was rated EF0 in Indiana and EF1 in Kentucky)
EF1:  26
EF2:  12
EF3:  0
EF4:  0
EF5:  0

June 5-6, 2010 Tornado Outbreak

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the June 5-6 tornado outbreak.  Three tornadoes struck parts of White, Carroll, Cass and Miami counties, including an EF3 near Grissom Air Force Base.  We are fortunate that nobody was killed since these tornadoes occurred at night.

I traveled to all 3 damage paths and took some pictures.  Here are some of them.

What A Difference A Year Makes

In 2010 we didn't record our first tornado until June 4, and this year we've already broken the record for most tornadoes in a year. 

I have noticed that one year is often much different than the next when it comes to weather.  That has certainly been the case with respect to our severe weather season.

Tomorrow I will have a new post about the tornadoes of June 5, 2010.

Can A 100-Fatality Tornado Happen Here?

It has been nearly 2 weeks since a catastrophic tornado annihilated a significant chunk of Joplin, Missouri.  This stunning and tragic event has generated a lot of discussion in meteorological circles about why it was so deadly.  Now that I've had some time to gather information and reflect on this tornado, I thought I would share some thoughts.

I believe that several circumstances combined to make this tornado the deadliest in the "modern" era, or post-1953.  Here are some of them in no particular order:

1.  Rapid intensification - based on video/eyewitness reports/damage survey, this tornado rapidly morphed from a weak/small tornado into a monstrous wedge, and unfortunately this process happened right as the tornado was moving into Joplin.

2.  Poor visibility - by this I mean 2 things.  It appears the tornado was wrapped in rain from the vantage point of many of those in the path.  Also, the sheer size of the funnel may have been deceptive to an observer expecting to see a more traditional looking funnel.

3.  Exact track - although some loss of life with a tornado of this magnitude may be almost inevitable, it may have been less of a story if it tracked a few miles differently in either direction.  The path just happened to be directly over numerous residential areas.

4.  Wide swath of intense winds - Based on the damage survey, it seems as though a rather wide portion of the damage was in the EF3-EF5 range.  Typically this is enough to cause total or near total building failure and when that occurs, the odds of survival decrease.


We can't blame this outcome on a lack of warning.  The local NWS office issued a tornado warning with acceptable lead time and, in my opinion, did the best they could given the rapidly unfolding situation.  Had the warning not come until later, even more people may have died.  I truly believe this was mostly a case of bad luck, where a series of circumstances came together in just the right (or in this case wrong) way.

Great strides have been made in reducing the number of mass casualty tornado events, but I knew a day like this was only a matter of time.  I did not think it would happen in this manner though.  I really thought we had come far enough so that the next deadly tornado of this magnitude would only occur if it plowed through a major city or a crowded outdoor event like the Indy 500.  The Joplin event obviously throws that thinking out the window.  I think we can learn some lessons from this event; not only that, we should look to the past to get a sense of where these particularly fatal tornadoes have occurred and what the circumstances were.  This will help us answer the question:  Can it happen here?

The Joplin tornado is the 15th tornado on record to kill at least 100 people in the U.S. and the first since 1953.  Here are the paths of all of these tornadoes (drawn to the best of my ability) and the years in which they occurred:

    

There are a couple things that stand out.  Most of these tornadoes occurred in the 1800's or first half of the 1900's, and a majority of them have occurred east of the Plains.  In fact, 10 out of 15 have taken place roughly along/east of the Mississippi River.  The 1925 Tri-State tornado killed over 70 people in Indiana, making it the state's deadliest tornado to date.

Most of the 100+ fatality tornadoes passed through cities/large towns or had extremely bad luck associated with them (for example, a majority of the deaths in the 1840 Natchez, Mississippi tornado were boaters on the Mississippi River).  Historical records are sketchy and possibly inaccurate, but based on the available information, these tornadoes had path widths anywhere between a half mile to almost 2 miles.  So...intense, wide tornadoes tracking through highly populated areas seem to be the most likely candidates.  Using SPC's Severeplot 3.0, I searched the Indiana records for these types of tornadoes.  Here are the F4/F5 tornadoes with an average path width of at least a half mile (the blue boxes are explained below) since 1950:

 


Almost all of the wide, violent tornadoes occurred on April 11, 1965 and April 3, 1974.  It's not a coincidence that those are 2 of our deadliest outbreaks.  The blue boxes depict locations of greater population.  Using historical cases, I believe that in order for a tornado to kill at least 100 people, it would likely have to pass through one of the boxes.  That is NOT to say that any violent tornado that passes through there is going to kill that many people (thankfully!) but a tornado in those areas with circumstances similar to Joplin is one I would be very concerned about.

As you can see, we have been pretty lucky in terms of massive tornadoes avoiding those boxes, at least since 1950.  We can be sure that our luck will run out one day, but hopefully we don't have to face anything on the scale of Joplin anytime soon.  Given our ever increasing population, though, it is a possibility.  The good news is that statistically speaking, these extreme killers are very rare and hopefully they stay that way.

June 2, 1990 Tornado Outbreak - Biggest On Record

Today marks the anniversary of our biggest tornado outbreak on record.  Although it wasn't as devastating as the Palm Sunday Outbreak or the Super Outbreak, this event is notable for a few reasons.  First, 37 tornadoes set a new record for most tornadoes in a single outbreak.  Second, 20 of the 37 tornadoes were rated F2 or greater.  To put that in some perspective, it "normally" takes 3 or 4 years to accumulate that many strong tornadoes.  Third, this event produced multiple violent F4's, joining 4/11/1965 and 4/3/1974 as the only days with multiple violent tornadoes in the state (since 1950).  Unfortunately, 8 people were killed.

Here is a map of the approximate tornado tracks:

Here are some images courtesy of Nick Smith:




June 2, 1990 Convective Outlook

   



Early Evening Radar Depicting Scattered Supercells