A strong line of thunderstorms developed and pushed southeast through central Indiana during the evening and overnight hours of August the 24th. Numerous thunderstorm wind gust and damage reports were received, mainly from the northern half of central Indiana.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS IND wrote it up.
A strong line of thunderstorms developed and pushed southeast through central Indiana during the evening and overnight hours of August the 24th. Numerous thunderstorm wind gust and damage reports were received, mainly from the northern half of central Indiana. Hail up to the size of golf balls were also observed.
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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 24, 5:21 PM EST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 621 PM EDT WED AUG 24 2011 .UPDATE... THE AVIATION SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED BELOW. && .SYNOPSIS... A FAIRLY POTENT SHORTWAVE AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT...LIKELY BRINGING A ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST PERIOD...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE IN CONTROL IN NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT ON THE EASTERN PERIPHERY OF A PERSISTENT UPPER LEVEL RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL CONUS. THE ONLY INTERRUPTION TO THIS MAY BE A WEAK...LIKELY DRY COLD FRONT PASSING THROUGH THE AREA EARLY IN THE COMING WEEKEND. && .NEAR TERM /TONIGHT/... FOCUS IS ON THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT AND A BLEND IS USED. AIRMASS REMAINS STRONGLY CAPPED AS EVIDENCED BY VERY LITTLE CUMULUS FORMATION THUS FAR TODAY. A SMALL AMOUNT OF CU HAS MANAGED TO FORM IN A WEAK CONVERGENCE ZONE JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT FROM AROUND PEORIA TO SOUTHWEST OF VALPARAISO...AND THIS MAY BE THE BEGINNINGS OF A BROKEN LINE OF CONVECTION DEPICTED BY THE HIGH RES RAPID REFRESH...THAT SHOULD DROP SOUTH/SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. VERY STRONG INSTABILITY IS IN PLACE ABOVE THE STRONG CAP...WITH MODERATE BUT AMPLE SHEAR VALUES EXPANDING INTO THE AREA AS THE SHORTWAVE WORKS INTO THE REGION. RELATIVELY STEEP LAPSE RATES/STRONG DCAPE/STRENGTHENING LOW LEVEL WIND FIELDS WILL PRESENT PRIMARILY A DAMAGING WIND THREAT. FAIRLY HIGH WET BULB ZERO HEIGHTS AND INCREASING PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES...NEAR OR ABOVE 150 PERCENT OF NORMAL...SUGGEST A RELATIVELY MINOR HAIL THREAT...BUT A SIGNIFICANT HEAVY RAIN THREAT. APPEARS THAT THE MAJORITY OF STORM ACTIVITY WILL BE DONE NO LATER THAN 06Z...AND WILL QUICKLY RAMP DOWN POPS AFTER THAT TIME. MOST OF THE AREA MAY SEE THUNDERSTORMS AFTER ABOUT 23Z THROUGH 04Z. ON TEMPS...GUIDANCE LOOKED SLIGHTLY TOO COOL BASED ON UPSTREAM MINS. HAVE BUMPED UP A BIT. && .SHORT TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/... FOCUS IS TEMPS. GUIDANCE IS SIMILAR AND A BLEND REMAINS SUFFICIENT. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE IN CONTROL THROUGHOUT THE SHORT TERM...AND A DRY FORECAST IS THE RESULT. EXPECT A DECENT CU FIELD TOMORROW AS A WEAK LOW LEVEL THERMAL TROUGH REMAINS ACROSS THE AREA. ON TEMPS...GUIDANCE LOOKED A BIT TOO COOL ON MAXES BASED ON 850 TEMPS...UPSTREAM READINGS...AND RECENT HISTORY. MIN TEMP NUMBERS LOOKED REASONABLE EXCEPT FOR TONIGHT...WHEN THEY LOOKED SLIGHTLY TOO COOL BASED ON UPSTREAM MINS. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... NORTHWEST FLOW WILL REMAIN THE RULE UNTIL RIDGING FLATTENS OUT AND EXPANDS EASTWARD NEXT WEEK. A WEAK...LIKELY DRY COLD FRONT WILL PASS THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE WEEKEND...AND A WEAK WAVE MAY IMPINGE UPON THE AREA LATE IN THE WEEKEND...BUT LITTLE IN THE WAY OF PRECIP PRODUCING SYSTEMS OF NOTE IN THE EXTENDED. BASED ON 850 TEMPS...FELT THAT HPC NUMBERS WERE A BIT UNDERDONE...AND BUMPED MOST MAX TEMPS UP A DEGREE OR TWO. && .AVIATION.../DISCUSSION FOR 250000Z TAFS/... EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ALONG A CUMULUS FIELD JUST NORTH OF LAFAYETTE AND AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT ACROSS NORTHWESTERN INDIANA BY ISSUANCE TIME. THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO REACH LAF AROUND 02Z...HUF AND IND AROUND 04Z AND BMG AROUND 06Z. WILL WAIT UNTIL THE LAST SECOND TO SEE IF THUNDERSTORMS DUE IN FACT DEVELOP AND IF SO...IF THEY BREAK OUT IN A SOLID OR BROKEN LINE. THAT WILL DETERMINE WHETHER OR TEMPO...VCTS OR JUST CB GROUP WILL BE INCLUDED. OTHERWISE...GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS TO 18 KNOTS WILL DIE OFF AFTER DARK AND SWITCH TO THE NORTHWEST AFTER FROPA. SKIES EXPECTED TO CLEAR OVERNIGHT WITH JUST SOME DIURNAL SCATTERED VFR CU TOMORROW. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...NIELD NEAR TERM...NIELD SHORT TERM...NIELD LONG TERM....NIELD AVIATION...MK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 1127 AM EDT WED AUG 24 2011 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-251000- CARROLL-WARREN-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-FOUNTAIN-MONTGOMERY- BOONE-TIPTON-HAMILTON-MADISON-DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-VERMILLION-PARKE- PUTNAM-HENDRICKS-MARION-HANCOCK-HENRY-VIGO-CLAY-OWEN-MORGAN- JOHNSON-SHELBY-RUSH-SULLIVAN-GREENE-MONROE-BROWN-BARTHOLOMEW- DECATUR-KNOX-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE-JACKSON-JENNINGS- 1127 AM EDT WED AUG 24 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT. THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA WILL BE BETWEEN 600 PM AND MIDNIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES INTO OUR REGION. STORMS WILL INITIALLY IMPACT AREAS TO THE NORTH OF INDIANAPOLIS...SPREADING SOUTH AND EAST ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE EVENING. THE MAIN THREATS FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS ALSO POSSIBLE. THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO PRODUCE DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. IN ADDITION HEAT INDEX VALUES MAY EXCEED 100 DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AND RANGE FROM THE MIDDLE 90S TO AROUND 100 DEGREES ELSEWHERE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. DRY WEATHER WILL BE THE RULE THURSDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND. BUT THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN BY TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL WHETHER ANY OF THOSE WILL BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) RYAN
The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:14 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Damaging thunderstorm wind gusts blew barns, farm equipment, and trees over. Power lines were also reported down. Multiple roads were blocked due to debris and the trees that were downed.
A large tree, with a diameter of a foot to a foot and a half, was downed due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Tree limbs, two inches in diameter, were downed in this location due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
An estimated 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust was observed in this location.
Multiple tree limbs were reported down in this location due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
An estimated 58 mph thunderstorm wind gust was observed in this location.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, August 2011
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: 345716, 345718, 345720, 343175, 343180, 343224, 343226, 343230, 343232, 345721, 343239, 343241.