Tornadoes · United States · Indiana

1966 tornadoes in Indiana

12 tornadoes touched down in Indiana in 1966, 47 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1965 1967 The whole country in 1966

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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in Indiana in 1966

April 20 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 206:32 PM GMT-6F0Starke0.110
April 208:53 PM GMT-5F1Marshall0.110$500 to $5,000
April 2010:35 PM GMT-5F1Montgomery0.110

June 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 1511:00 PM GMT-5F2Blackford0.110$5,000 to $50,000

July 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 55:38 PM GMT-5F0Elkhart0.110

July 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 912:53 PM GMT-5F0Porter2.020$500 to $5,000
July 91:05 PM GMT-5F1Porter0.110$50 to $500

July 11 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 115:05 AM GMT-5F1Marion0.110$500 to $5,000
July 115:12 AM GMT-5F1Morgan0.110$50 to $500

July 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 1310:54 AM GMT-5F2Lake0.110$5,000 to $50,000

December 8 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 86:50 AM GMT-6F2Jasper0.1101$5,000 to $50,000
December 810:00 AM GMT-5F2Montgomery0.110$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in IndianaThe live radar over Indiana

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.