Tornado in Indiana, August 25, 2001

Name: Tornado in Indiana, August 25, 2001
Start: 2001-08-25T16:31
End: 2001-08-25T16:37
Location: Indiana

August 25, 2001 · NWS LOT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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: 2
Property damage: $100,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 25, 1:05 PM CST, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 1:05 PM CST, 3 hours 26 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
205 PM CDT SAT AUG 25 2001

FIRST MAIN WAVE OF PCPN HAS SWUNG THRU AND NOW IS IN INDIANA. DRY
SLOTTING HAS OPENED UP MOST OF IL TO SUNSHINE WHERE UNSTABLE MOIST
FIELD OPEN TO DIURNAL HEATING. TRIGGER TEMP FROM SOUNDING IN THE
MIDDLE 80S SO DIURNALLY INDUCED STRONG CONVECTION NOT LIKELY IN NRN
IL/NWRN IN.

MOISTURE CONV ZONES HIGHLITE IN 2 AREAS...ONE ALONG BUILDING TSTMS
IN SERN IL AND ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING THRU MO FROM SFC LO
IN NERN IA. LOW LVL MOISTURE FEED FROM GULF TERMINATES IN SRN
IL/SWRN IN WHERE BLOWUP IS GOING ON. CENTRAL IL TRAJECTORY BEING
WRAPPED AROUND UPPER LOW AND CUT OFF FROM MAIN MSTR SOURCE. THUS
MAIN PCPN EVENT MAY BE OVER FOR THE AREA. WILL PROBLY GO CATEGORICAL
WITH PERIODS OF SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS AND NO MORE MENTION OF
HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL TONIGHT. SO CHALLENGE THEN WOULD BE ON TIMING
OF PCPN ENDING.

AVN TAKES SFC LO FASTER AND FURTHER NE THAN ETA. NCEP PREFERS TREND
OF ETA OVER AVN AND WILL PROBLY FOLLOW ALONG THOSE LINES. FROPA
OCCURS BFR MIDNIGHT IN NCNTRL IL TO NWRN IN BY 12Z SUNDAY. WILL LV
CHC LINGERING SHWRS SUNDAY MRNG FOR IN AND NEAR NWRN IN. WHILE STILL
REMAINING IN CYCLONIC FLOW SUNDAY...SHOULD BE SLOW TO CLEAR BUT CAA
NOT STRONG SO INSTABILITY SHWRS NO LONGER LOOKS VIABLE.

IN FACT WEAK RIDGE SLIDES SE THRU AREA SUNDAY AND ANOTHER S/W DROPS
OUT OF NRN PLAINS ON MONDAY. WAA CLDNESS WITH WEAK PCPN CHANCE
POSSIBLE ON MONDAY AHEAD OF THIS WAVE. WILL GO FOR PTCLDY TO MOCLDY
FOR NOW AND NOT PUT IN CHC OF RAIN MONDAY ATTM.

BIG HIGH BUILDING OVER LAKES REGION TUESDAY WITH SUNNY SKIES LIKELY
AND INCRSG CLDNESS WED WITH CHC RAIN AGAIN THURSDAY AS FROPA DROPS
DOWN FROM THE UPR MS VLY. TURNING COOLER AND DRIER FOR FRIDAY AND
SATURDAY AS ANOTHER BIG HIGH MOVES INTO THE LAKES AGAIN.

.CHI...NONE.

BRUMER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 25, 11:15 AM CST, 5 hours 16 minutes before

ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011-019-
261100-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
NOON PM CDT/EST SAT AUG 25 2001

FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA.

NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT.

WAVES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA AND
THREATEN NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA WITH LOCALIZED
FLOODING FROM FREQUENT HEAVY STORMS. THIS THREAT WILL CONTINUE
THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...DIMINISHING TOWARD
MORNING FOR NORTHWEST INDIANA.

BRUMER

Local storm report, Aug 25, 3:03 PM CST, 1 hour 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
403 PM CDT SAT AUG 25 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0259 PM    NAPERVILLE                IL   TORNADO
08/25/01   DUPAGE                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.  BRIEF
                                          TOUCHDOWN WITH NO
                                          DAMAGE REPORTED.

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Lake

When: August 25, 4:31 PM CST to 4:37 PM CST
Where: Lake County, Merrillville
Rating: F1
Path length: 4.5 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.483, -87.333

A tornado touched down in Merrillville just east of the intersection of Merrillville Road and 84th Street. There was spotty minor structural damage in an industrial park with some small trees broken or pushed over, damage to signs and a few broken windows. Many structures and trees in the path had no damage. Just west of I-65, parts of the roof and glass walls of a commercial building were damaged. East of I-65, just south of Route 30, there was more damage to signs. A semi was overturned. Two people were injured by broken glass at a restaurant in Hobart. Part of the roof and a section of a wall was blown out at a Kohl's department store. The tornado crossed Route 30 and caused minor structural damage, mostly to signs and glass, at a strip mall. Behind the shops, corn was flattened and trees were damaged. The tornado then moved into the Green Acres subdivision near Colorado Street and 78th Street. A garage collapsed and many large tree limbs were blown down through the neighborhood. The tornado then weakened. Only minor damage to a few tree limbs occurred around the 7600 block of Clay Street and just south and east of the intersection of Grand and 73rd. The average path width was 50 yards.

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Indiana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Indiana, 2001 Warnings in Indiana, August 2001

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: 5264263.