April 25, 1961 Tornado

On April 25, 1961, at least one powerful F4 tornado swept across portions of east central Indiana.  Touching down in Shelby county a few miles north of Shelbyville, this tornado passed over I-74 with eyewitnesses reporting multiple vorticies.  The tornado destroyed barns and homes in Shelby and Rush counties.  Additional heavy damage occurred near the town of Boston where homes were destroyed.  The tornado eventually passed into Ohio.  Several people were injured but fortunately there were no fatalities.

This event may have actually been two separate tornadoes but it is not clear.


Source:

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

March 28, 1920 - The Original Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak

Today marks the anniversary of a significant Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, but perhaps not the one you may think.  On March 28, 1920, at least 7 tornadoes touched down in Indiana as part of a major tornado outbreak.

The first tornado touched down west of Leroy in Lake county around 3 PM before passing into Porter county and ending near Beatrice.  One person was killed and another was injured.

Around 3:15 PM, a second tornado touched down south of Mishawaka and passed northwest of Elkhart before heading into Michigan.  Fortunately, no fatalities occurred in this storm but several people were injured.

The third tornado touched down at 4:30 PM in Steuben county near the town of Orland, unroofing businesses and homes there.  The tornado moved NNE into Michigan.

A new tornado touched down at 5:15 PM in Wells county near Uniondale.  Many farms and other buildings were leveled along the path across Wells and Allen counties.  The tornado then crossed into Ohio.  In all, 23 people were killed with 13 of the deaths occurring in Indiana.

Around 6 PM, another tornado touched down NNW of Portland in Jay county.  Extreme damage (possibly F5) occurred near the towns of Geneva and Ceylon before the tornado passed into Ohio.  17 people died with 14 of them occurring in Indiana.

A sixth tornado touched down at 7:30 PM south of Union City in Randolph county before moving into Ohio.  5 people were killed but it appears that all of the deaths occurred in Ohio.

The final tornado reached the ground in Wayne county at 8:00 PM.  This tornado originated near Fountain City and moved through Wayne and Randolph counties before passing into Ohio.  No deaths occurred in Indiana.


Source:

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

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

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.