Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 1965
F4 Russiaville–Kokomo–Marion tornado, Indiana, April 11, 1965
This F4 tornado ran 48.0 miles across Clinton, Howard and Grant counties on April 11, 1965, touching down at 7:20 PM GMT-5 and reaching 880 yards wide. It killed 25 people and injured 835, and did $50 million to $500 million of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mphthis tornado
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- F4
- Date
- April 11, 1965
- Touchdown
- 7:20 PM GMT-5 (00:20 UTC)
- Path length
- 48.0 miles (77.2 km)
- Path width
- 880 yards (805 m)
- Deaths
- 25
- Injuries
- 835
- Property damage
- $50 million to $500 million
- Counties
- Clinton, Howard and Grant counties
- Touchdown point
- 40.400, -86.380
- Lift-off point
- 40.520, -85.470
- Record number
- 152
The air that afternoon
The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.
Dayton/James M C, OH (KDAY), 00:00Z
0.3 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. April 12, 1965.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 855 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -135 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1850 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1307 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 86 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 402 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 598 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 14.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.5 K/km
Dayton/James M C, OH (KDAY), 12:00Z
11.7 hours after it, 159 km from the path. April 12, 1965.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -14866 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1619 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 81 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 303 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1965 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 11, 1965
44 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 11 | 3:30 AM GMT-6 | F2 | Muskogee, OK | 0.1 | 10 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| April 11 | 12:55 PM GMT-6 | F4 | Cedar, IA | 91.5 | 200 | 1 | 3 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 1:15 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Chickasaw, IA | 49.9 | 300 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 2:00 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Green, WI | 27.1 | 167 | 40 | $500,000 to $5 million | |
| April 11 | 2:30 PM GMT-6 | F2 | Jefferson, WI | 14.5 | 1,320 | 3 | 28 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 2:45 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Crawford, WI | 13.3 | 10 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 3:20 PM GMT-6 | F4 | Crystal Lake tornado, IL | 9.1 | 400 | 6 | 75 | |
| April 11 | 3:50 PM GMT-6 | F2 | Lake, IL | 4.5 | 200 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 3:50 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Walworth, WI | 1.9 | 50 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 3:55 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Walworth, WI | 1.0 | 10 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 4:00 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Kane, IL | 0.3 | 150 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 4:04 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Lake, IL | 0.5 | 250 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 4:14 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Monroe, WI | 2.0 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 4:45 PM GMT-6 | F3 | Starke, IN | 35.6 | 250 | 10 | 82 | $5 million to $50 million |
| April 11 | 5:54 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Ottawa, MI | 20.6 | 300 | 5 | 142 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 5:10 PM GMT-6 | F3 | Porter, IN | 33.1 | 10 | $5 million to $50 million | ||
| April 11 | 6:15 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Dunlap tornado, IN | 21.2 | 10 | 31 | 252 | |
| April 11 | 6:40 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Midway tornado, IN | 21.6 | 177 | 5 | 41 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
| April 11 | 6:00 PM GMT-6 | F4 | Hillsdale tornado, Indiana and Michigan | 90.3 | 1,760 | 23 | 294 | $50 million to $500 million |
| April 11 | 7:05 PM GMT-5 | F1 | Allegan, MI | 19.5 | 200 | 1 | 9 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
| April 11 | 7:07 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Tippecanoe, IN | 21.8 | 500 | 44 | ||
| April 11 | 7:10 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Twin Lakes tornado, IN | 37.0 | 333 | 36 | 321 | |
| April 11 | 7:30 PM GMT-5 | F3 | Kalamazoo, MI | 14.2 | 150 | 17 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| April 11 | 7:40 PM GMT-5 | F3 | Barry, MI | 14.1 | 10 | 5 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| April 11 | 7:40 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Branch, MI | 80.5 | 10 | 21 | 293 | |
| April 11 | 7:50 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Lebanon–Sheridan tornado, IN | 45.7 | 1,667 | 28 | 123 | $5 million to $50 million |
| April 11 | 7:10 PM GMT-6 | F4 | Berne tornado, Indiana and Ohio | 52.5 | 10 | 4 | 125 | $5 million to $50 million |
| April 11 | 8:15 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Clinton, MI | 21.0 | 100 | 1 | 8 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
| April 11 | 8:25 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Montcalm, MI | 15.1 | 440 | 1 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| April 11 | 8:30 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Gratiot, MI | 0.1 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 8:30 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Gratiot, MI | 0.5 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 8:30 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Gratiot, MI | 1.0 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 8:50 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Bay, MI | 9.9 | 10 | 2 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| April 11 | 9:00 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Tuscola, MI | 9.0 | 10 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| April 11 | 8:30 PM GMT-6 | F4 | Toledo tornado, Ohio and Michigan | 5.6 | 200 | 18 | 236 | $5 million to $50 million |
| April 11 | 9:30 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Cairo tornado, OH | 32.5 | 400 | 13 | 104 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 10:00 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Fort Loramie tornado, OH | 18.4 | 300 | 3 | 50 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 10:15 PM GMT-5 | F3 | Seneca, OH | 15.0 | 300 | 4 | 30 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
| April 11 | 11:05 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Grafton–Strongsville tornado, OH | 22.0 | 400 | 18 | 200 | $5 million to $50 million |
| April 11 | 11:15 PM GMT-5 | F1 | Preble, OH | 0.1 | 10 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 11:30 PM GMT-5 | F1 | Medina, OH | 8.2 | 200 | 6 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| April 11 | 11:30 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Union, OH | 22.2 | 400 | 4 | 62 | $500,000 to $5 million |
| April 11 | 11:50 PM GMT-5 | F1 | Greene, OH | 0.1 | 10 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 11 | 12:30 AM GMT-5 | F1 | Pickaway, OH | 38.4 | 300 | 13 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.