Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 133
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 17, 2026, 10:44 PM EDT for 25 counties in Indiana; Berrien County, Cass County, Michigan. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 17, 2026, 10:44 PM EDT (02:44 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 2026, 1:45 AM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 27 counties
Boone County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Clay County, IN, Clinton County, IN, Elkhart County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Howard County, IN, Kosciusko County, IN, LaPorte County, IN, Marshall County, IN, Miami County, IN, Montgomery County, IN, Parke County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Saint Joseph County, IN, Starke County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Vigo County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Warren County, IN, White County, IN, Berrien County, MI, Cass County, MI
The radar
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:44 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 11:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | Cass, LaPorte, Pulaski, Starke, White | 54 min |
| Apr 18, 12:16 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | IWX | LaPorte | 29 min |
| Apr 18, 12:26 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | Fulton, LaPorte, Marshall, Pulaski, Saint Joseph, Starke | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 12:42 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | IWX | Elkhart, Saint Joseph | 33 min |
| Apr 18, 12:59 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall, Saint Joseph | 46 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
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 201 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1309 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -103 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1221 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 212 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 264 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 8.2
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 9:09 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Fountain, Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton and 8 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 17, 11:19 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Elkhart, Fountain and 20 more | 116 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2026Tornado Watches in Michigan, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026
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.