Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 1965

F3 tornado, Starke, Marshall, Saint Joseph and Elkhart counties, Indiana, April 11, 1965

This F3 tornado ran 35.6 miles across Starke, Marshall, Saint Joseph and Elkhart counties on April 11, 1965, touching down at 4:45 PM GMT-6 and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed 10 people and injured 82, and did $5 million to $50 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.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  7. 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
F3
Date
April 11, 1965
Touchdown
4:45 PM GMT-6 (22:45 UTC)
Path length
35.6 miles (57.3 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
10
Injuries
82
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
Counties
Starke, Marshall, Saint Joseph and Elkhart counties
Touchdown point
41.350, -86.580
Lift-off point
41.630, -85.970
Record number
143

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), 12:00Z

10.8 hours before the tornado, 249 km from the path. April 11, 1965.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dayton/James M C, OH at 12:00Z on 1965-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 59 joules per kilogram, CIN -135, lifted condensation level 499 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Dayton/James M C, OH at 12:00Z on 1965-04-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 235 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-135 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
499 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
235 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dayton/James M C, OH (KDAY), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 249 km from the path. April 12, 1965.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dayton/James M C, OH at 00:00Z on 1965-04-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 855 joules per kilogram, CIN -135, lifted condensation level 1307 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Dayton/James M C, OH at 00:00Z on 1965-04-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 402 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 86 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

South Bend (SBN), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:00 UTC7260180° 18 ktHZ
22:00 UTC7162180° 13 ktTS SHRA
23:00 UTC7062230° 22 kt988.8TSRAPL
00:00 UTC6443280° 20 kt30991.2

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 113:30 AM GMT-6F2Muskogee, OK0.110$500 to $5,000
April 1112:55 PM GMT-6F4Cedar, IA91.520013$500,000 to $5 million
April 111:15 PM GMT-6F1Chickasaw, IA49.9300$50,000 to $500,000
April 112:00 PM GMT-6F1Green, WI27.116740$500,000 to $5 million
April 112:30 PM GMT-6F2Jefferson, WI14.51,320328$500,000 to $5 million
April 112:45 PM GMT-6F1Crawford, WI13.310$5,000 to $50,000
April 113:20 PM GMT-6F4Crystal Lake tornado, IL9.1400675
April 113:50 PM GMT-6F2Lake, IL4.5200$50,000 to $500,000
April 113:50 PM GMT-6F1Walworth, WI1.950$50,000 to $500,000
April 113:55 PM GMT-6F1Walworth, WI1.010$5,000 to $50,000
April 114:00 PM GMT-6F1Kane, IL0.3150$50,000 to $500,000
April 114:04 PM GMT-6F1Lake, IL0.5250$50,000 to $500,000
April 114:14 PM GMT-6F1Monroe, WI2.050$5,000 to $50,000
April 115:54 PM GMT-5F4Ottawa, MI20.63005142$500,000 to $5 million
April 115:10 PM GMT-6F3Porter, IN33.110$5 million to $50 million
April 116:15 PM GMT-5F4Dunlap tornado, IN21.21031252
April 116:40 PM GMT-5F4Midway tornado, IN21.6177541$50,000 to $500,000
April 116:00 PM GMT-6F4Hillsdale tornado, Indiana and Michigan90.31,76023294$50 million to $500 million
April 117:05 PM GMT-5F1Allegan, MI19.520019$50,000 to $500,000
April 117:07 PM GMT-5F4Tippecanoe, IN21.850044
April 117:10 PM GMT-5F4Twin Lakes tornado, IN37.033336321
April 117:20 PM GMT-5F4Russiaville–Kokomo–Marion tornado, IN48.088025835$50 million to $500 million
April 117:30 PM GMT-5F3Kalamazoo, MI14.215017$50,000 to $500,000
April 117:40 PM GMT-5F3Barry, MI14.1105$50,000 to $500,000
April 117:40 PM GMT-5F4Branch, MI80.51021293
April 117:50 PM GMT-5F4Lebanon–Sheridan tornado, IN45.71,66728123$5 million to $50 million
April 117:10 PM GMT-6F4Berne tornado, Indiana and Ohio52.5104125$5 million to $50 million
April 118:15 PM GMT-5F4Clinton, MI21.010018$50,000 to $500,000
April 118:25 PM GMT-5F2Montcalm, MI15.14401$50,000 to $500,000
April 118:30 PM GMT-5F2Gratiot, MI0.150$5,000 to $50,000
April 118:30 PM GMT-5F2Gratiot, MI0.550$5,000 to $50,000
April 118:30 PM GMT-5F2Gratiot, MI1.050$5,000 to $50,000
April 118:50 PM GMT-5F2Bay, MI9.9102$50,000 to $500,000
April 119:00 PM GMT-5F2Tuscola, MI9.010$50,000 to $500,000
April 118:30 PM GMT-6F4Toledo tornado, Ohio and Michigan5.620018236$5 million to $50 million
April 119:30 PM GMT-5F4Cairo tornado, OH32.540013104$500,000 to $5 million
April 1110:00 PM GMT-5F4Fort Loramie tornado, OH18.4300350$500,000 to $5 million
April 1110:15 PM GMT-5F3Seneca, OH15.0300430$50,000 to $500,000
April 1111:05 PM GMT-5F4Grafton–Strongsville tornado, OH22.040018200$5 million to $50 million
April 1111:15 PM GMT-5F1Preble, OH0.110$5,000 to $50,000
April 1111:30 PM GMT-5F1Medina, OH8.22006$50,000 to $500,000
April 1111:30 PM GMT-5F2Union, OH22.2400462$500,000 to $5 million
April 1111:50 PM GMT-5F1Greene, OH0.110$5,000 to $50,000
April 1112:30 AM GMT-5F1Pickaway, OH38.430013$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.