Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 257

May 15, 202524 counties in Indiana; 4 counties in Michigan

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 15, 2025, 9:30 PM EDT for 24 counties in Indiana; 4 counties in Michigan. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2025, 9:30 PM EDT (01:30 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2025, 12:45 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 28 counties

Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Elkhart County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Grant County, IN, Howard County, IN, Huntington County, IN, Kosciusko County, IN, LaGrange County, IN, LaPorte County, IN, Marshall County, IN, Miami County, IN, Noble County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Saint Joseph County, IN, Starke County, IN, Steuben County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Warren County, IN, White County, IN, Whitley County, IN, Berrien County, MI, Branch County, MI, Cass County, MI, Saint Joseph County, MI

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 16 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:33 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 9:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatIWXBerrien, Cass67 min
May 15, 9:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXLaPorte, Saint Joseph34 min
May 15, 10:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXCass, Saint Joseph36 min
May 15, 11:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXBranch, Saint Joseph47 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 246 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2025-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1413 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 2025-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 116 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1413 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1102 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
5.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 2:46 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPosey, Vanderburgh119 min
May 16, 3:28 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCClark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Perry, Posey and 3 more9 hr
May 16, 7:35 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHarrison, Perry, Spencer115 min
May 16, 3:59 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBartholomew, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Clark, Clay and 49 more8 hr
May 16, 6:06 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson and 14 more114 min
May 16, 6:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Cass, Fulton and 12 more3 hr
May 16, 6:51 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBartholomew, Brown, Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Decatur and 24 more114 min
May 16, 7:17 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCDearborn, Fayette, Franklin, Ohio, Ripley, Switzerland and 2 more7 hr
May 16, 7:56 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBartholomew, Brown, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess and 29 more2 hr
May 15, 8:22 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAllegan, Antrim, Arenac, Barry, Benzie, Calhoun and 35 more5 hr
May 15, 10:00 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegan, Barry, Cass, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent and 10 more90 min
May 15, 10:47 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArenac, Bay, Genesee, Gladwin, Ingham, Iosco and 14 more118 min
May 15, 11:28 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBay, Genesee, Huron, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston and 11 more3 hr
May 16, 3:30 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlger, Delta, Dickinson, Menominee2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2025Tornado Watches in Michigan, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.