Tornado and Hail in Indiana, October 16, 1988

Name: Tornado and Hail in Indiana, October 16, 1988
Start: 1988-10-16T16:23
End: 1988-10-16T18:30
Location: Indiana

October 16, 1988 · NWS IND · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

3 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2.5 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

3 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Elkhart

When: October 16, 4:23 PM EST
Where: Elkhart County
Rating: F2
Path length: 6 mi
Path width: 40 yd
Property damage: $2.5 million
Coordinates: 41.470, -86.000

Hail, St. Joseph

When: October 16, 4:15 PM CST
Where: St. Joseph County
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Coordinates: 41.520, -86.280

Hail, St. Joseph

When: October 16, 4:45 PM CST
Where: St. Joseph County
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Coordinates: 41.530, -86.430

Hail, Noble

When: October 16, 6:30 PM CST
Where: Noble County
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Coordinates: 41.520, -85.370

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Indiana in 1988 Every state in 1988 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Indiana, 1988 Warnings in Indiana, October 1988

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10017782, 10017781, 10017783, 10017784.