An area of low pressure moved north of central Indiana allowing the region to remain in tropical air. A single, long tracking supercell thunderstorm moved northeast through Hendricks, Boone, Hamilton, Tipton, and Howard counties, the evening of August 15, producing six tornadoes.
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.
An area of low pressure moved north of central Indiana allowing the region to remain in tropical air. A single, long tracking supercell thunderstorm moved northeast through Hendricks, Boone, Hamilton, Tipton, and Howard counties, the evening of August 15, producing six tornadoes. Two other thunderstorms produced separate tornadoes, one in Avon and one northwest of Lafayette.
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 15, 3:33 PM EST, 1 hour 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 433 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016 .UPDATE... The Aviation Section has been updated below. && .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 211 PM EDT Mon Aug 15 2016 Low pressure over the middle Mississippi valley will push toward the Great Lakes tonight. Showers and isolated thunderstorms along and ahead of the front will continue to spread across much of central Indiana. As the low pushes farther east on Tuesday...it will drag a cold front across Central Indiana...once again bringing chances for rain showers. Dry air and weak high pressure will build across the region by Tuesday evening and into Wednesday...allowing a return to dry weather. Late in the work week...warmer and southerly flow will return to the Ohio Valley...bringing chances for afternoon and evening showers and storms to return. A stronger cold front is expected to arrive on Saturday...providing our next best chance for well organized rain fall. Look for temperatures to be at or near normals this week. && .NEAR TERM /Tonight/... Issued at 211 PM EDT Mon Aug 15 2016 Again today the main story is told within the water vapor imagery. A tropical stream of deep moisture continues to flow northeast in to the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. A surface low was found across Illinois. Radar shows extensive rain showers across central Indiana...lift northward within the flow aloft. National Radar mosaics shows rain showers extending from Indiana all the way to Texas within the moist flow aloft. The Surface low is expected to push to the great lakes tonight. forecast soundings and Time heights continue to show strong lift and deep moisture across the area. 305K GFS Isentropic surface shows broad Isentropic lift continuing through the night with specific humidities over 12 g/kg! Still very moist. Meanwhile the GFS and NAM continue to suggest that a broader short wave over the Central Plains will slide east tonight and Tuesday...providing additional forcing and help to kick the moist tropical flow toward a more easterly direction. Giving the ample moisture and very good forcing...will trend pops once again higher than mavmos. With cloud and rain expected and cold front expected to push through after 12z Tues...will trend lows toward wetbulbs...at or above mavmos. A steady but slow rain fall as we have been seeing continues to be expected. However...brief heavy downpours cannot be ruled out. Slow rain fall rates will be good to prevent flash flooding...however...as amounts add up...areal flooding will be possible as low lying spots will still be susceptible to flooding. Will hold the course with the ongoing Flash Flood Watch. && .SHORT TERM /Tuesday through Thursday/... Issued at 211 PM EDT Mon Aug 15 2016 Forecast soundings and time heights remain deeply saturated on tuesday morning. GFS and NAM both suggest the previously discussed broad trough aloft pushing east across Indiana and providing good forcing. Surface cold front is also expected to push across Central Indiana during the morning hours. Forecast soundings show dry air beginning to intrude within the column as the day progresses...which should be expected as flow aloft shifts from the moist...southerly gulf flow to a more w-nw dry Pacific flow. Thus will trend pops lower as the day progresses. With the change in air masses...will stick close to the mavmos on highs. GFS and NAm continue to show a weak ridge of high pressure in place across central Indiana on Tuesday night and Wednesday with weak subsidence. Aloft ...the GFS and NAM are now suggesting a secondary...weak short wave pushing into the Great lakes and Indiana On Wednesday. Confidence in the feature is low...as deeper moisture will be limited with the change in the flow aloft. Will trend toward dry pop Tuesday Night and Wednesday. By Wednesday night and Thursday Surface and mid level ridging remain in place across Indiana and the Ohio Valley as...extending from High pressure across the southeast. However lower level flow looks to become more southerly...allowing warm and moist gulf air to return. Minimal forcing aloft appear in place on Wednesday Night and Thursday. Forecast soundings suggest steep lapse rates for Thursday during the peak heating hours. Thus will keep some chances for rain mainly during the afternoon hours on Thursday. A blend on temps will work ok. && .LONG TERM /Thursday night through next Monday/... Issued at 223 PM EDT Mon Aug 15 2016 Ensembles suggest a sheared out weak upper trough will slowly traverse the local area during the later parts of the week. Will keep some small chance PoPs in the forecast for late this week to cover this feature. Appears a rather strong trough will dig into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley over the upcoming weekend. The best precipitation chances during the extended will be related to this feature. This trough should be strong enough to shove the instability and moisture off to the south by Sunday night and Monday, so will go dry in those periods. && .AVIATION /Discussion for the 152100Z TAFS/... Issued at 433 PM EDT Mon Aug 15 2016 Updated current conditions, but otherwise TAFs look on track. Previous discussion follows... Widespread rainfall, with associated areas of IFR visibilities and ceilings, continues to lift slowly north across the area ahead of a surface wave near KSTL. As this wave drifts north into Illinois, should see the rainfall and IFR conditions become more scattered with time as the afternoon goes by. IFR and steadier rain may linger longer in the KLAF area, which will be closer to the surface wave. Trailing vorticity tail is progged to pass through the area this evening and overnight, along with a 35-40 kt low level jet, so rainfall and IFR conditions may increase again by then. Model data suggest some elevated instability may move into the area by this evening as well, so there may be a enhanced threat for lightning strikes in the vicinity of the terminals by that time. Surface winds 120-150 degrees at 8-11 kts this afternoon will gradually veer around to 180-200 degrees at 10-13 kts by late tonight. && .IND Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Flash Flood Watch through Tuesday evening for INZ021-028>031- 035>039-043>049-051>057-060>065-067>072. && SYNOPSIS...PUMA NEAR TERM...PUMA SHORT TERM...PUMA LONG TERM....JAS AVIATION...JAS/CP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 437 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016 INZ040>042-162045- MADISON-DELAWARE-RANDOLPH- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ANDERSON...MUNCIE 437 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. OUTLOOK: HEAVY RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. HAZARDS: LOCALIZED FLOODING. LIGHTNING. TIMING: ANY TIME. DISCUSSION: A FRONT REMAINING IN THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. OUTLOOK: THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FOR MUCH OF THE TIME THROUGH SUNDAY. HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING ARE POSSIBLE INTO TUESDAY. LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. DISCUSSION: A FRONT WILL INTERACT WITH TROPICAL GULF MOISTURE AND PRODUCE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL OFF AND ON EARLY THIS WEEK. OTHER SYSTEMS WILL BRING ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR STORMS LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND STORM IMPACT REPORTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED THROUGHOUT THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) INZ021-028>031-035>039-043>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-162045- CARROLL-WARREN-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-FOUNTAIN-MONTGOMERY-BOONE- TIPTON-HAMILTON-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- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAFAYETTE...FRANKFORT...KOKOMO... CRAWFORDSVILLE...INDIANAPOLIS...TERRE HAUTE...SHELBYVILLE... BLOOMINGTON...COLUMBUS...VINCENNES...BEDFORD...SEYMOUR 437 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. OUTLOOK: HEAVY RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. HAZARDS: FLASH FLOODING. LIGHTNING. TIMING: ANY TIME. DISCUSSION: A FRONT REMAINING IN THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. WITH A TROPICAL AIRMASS IN PLACE...HEAVY RAIN AND FLASH FLOODING ARE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. OUTLOOK: THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FOR MUCH OF THE TIME THROUGH SUNDAY. HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED AND FLOODING IS POSSIBLE INTO TUESDAY. LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. DISCUSSION: A FRONT WILL INTERACT WITH TROPICAL GULF MOISTURE AND PRODUCE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL OFF AND ON EARLY THIS WEEK. OTHER SYSTEMS WILL BRING ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR STORMS LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND STORM IMPACT REPORTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED THROUGHOUT THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE)
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
457 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0453 PM HEAVY RAIN 2 S CASTLETON 39.88N 86.05W
08/15/2016 M0.98 INCH MARION IN CO-OP OBSERVER
AMOUNT SINCE MIDNIGHT. AMOUNT SINCE SATURDAY IS NOW
2.53 INCHES.
&&
BHHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
511 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0506 PM HEAVY RAIN 3 E CARMEL 39.97N 86.05W
08/15/2016 M0.92 INCH HAMILTON IN AMATEUR RADIO
AMOUNT SINCE MIDNIGHT.
&&
BHHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
516 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0433 PM HEAVY RAIN GREENWOOD 39.62N 86.11W
08/15/2016 M2.18 INCH JOHNSON IN PUBLIC
2.18 TODAY. STORM TOTAL 5.06 SINCE SATURDAY
&&
CPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
520 PM EDT MON AUG 15 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1200 PM HEAVY RAIN 1 NE RUSHVILLE 39.62N 85.43W
08/15/2016 M2.51 INCH RUSH IN TRAINED SPOTTER
48 HOUR TOTAL
&&
CPThe Indianapolis radar (KIND), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:33 UTC.
8 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 105 mph, caused minor damage to a few farm buildings, rolled a trailer, and uprooted trees.
An EF-0 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 85 mph, downed three trees, destroyed a mailbox, and flattened a 25 yard wide path of corn.
An EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 95 mph, uprooted several trees and pushed a pontoon boat across the street.
A few tree trunks were snapped due to this brief EF-1 tornado touchdown, with maximum wind speeds of 95 mph.
An EF-0 tornado, with peak winds estimated at 80 mph, removed front porch pillars from a house and downed tree branches. This tornado occurred north of Brownsburg near the Boone-Hendricks County line.
An EF-2 tornado, with peak winds estimated at 115 mph, destroyed a pole barn. A grain bin and farm equipment were also damaged. Tree trunks were snapped, limbs were downed, and some corn was flattened along the tornado's path. This tornado occurred between Whitestown and Zionsville.
An EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 105 mph, snapped several tree trunks and flattened corn stalks along the path.
An EF-0 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 80 mph, snapped several tree branches, partially peeled tin roof off of a shed, and blew out a window in a barn and a house.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Indiana, 2016Warnings in Indiana, August 2016
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: 658097, 658553, 658124, 658112, 658296, 658297, 658551, 658552.