Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 1992

F3 tornado, Putnam and Montgomery counties, Indiana, November 22, 1992

This F3 tornado ran 12.0 miles across Putnam and Montgomery counties on November 22, 1992, touching down at 2:50 PM EST and reaching 867 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $500,000 to $5 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
November 22, 1992
Touchdown
2:50 PM EST (19:50 UTC)
Path length
12.0 miles (19.3 km)
Path width
867 yards (793 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
Counties
Putnam and Montgomery counties
Touchdown point
39.720, -86.900
Lift-off point
39.920, -86.880
Record number
1237

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:10 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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

7.8 hours before the tornado, 230 km from the path. November 22, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dayton/James M C, OH at 12:00Z on 1992-11-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -7384, lifted condensation level 539 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1992-11-22The 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 117 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7384 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
539 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
258 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

4.2 hours after it, 230 km from the path. November 23, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dayton/James M C, OH at 00:00Z on 1992-11-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 870 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 664 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1992-11-23The 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 296 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 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
870 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
750 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
664 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
360 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
7.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Indianapolis (IND), 52 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:00 UTC615990° 10 kt999.3-RA
18:04 UTC90° 12 kt998.6
18:36 UTC100° 11 kt997.3
19:00 UTC636190° 10 kt997
19:22 UTC90° 12 kt995.6
20:00 UTC6561120° 10 kt994.6
20:12 UTC50° 4 kt994.6
20:31 UTC320° 18 kt992.6
20:37 UTC280° 21 kt994.2
21:00 UTC5856220° 10 kt23995.3-TSRA FG

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1992 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 22, 1992

60 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 2212:14 AM CSTF4Smith, MS40.01,76020$5 million to $50 million
November 221:22 AM CSTF1Newton, MS9.0200$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:14 AM CSTF1Webster, MS9.02002$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:15 AM CSTF2Kemper, MS27.088011$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:31 AM CSTF0Chickasaw, MS4.0100$5,000 to $50,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF1Chickasaw, MS7.01002$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF2Noxubee, MS15.044015$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF2Kemper, MS23.0880$50,000 to $500,000
November 223:20 AM CSTF0Lauderdale, MS2.0100$500 to $5,000
November 223:30 AM CSTF2Sumter, AL6.0100$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:30 AM CSTF2Pickens, AL2.01277$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:50 AM CSTF1Hardeman, TN16.07313$5,000 to $50,000
November 225:18 AM CSTF1Walker, AL10.043$500,000 to $5 million
November 226:20 AM CSTF0Morgan, AL6.017$50,000 to $500,000
November 226:55 AM CSTF2Madison, AL6.01005$500,000 to $5 million
November 228:00 AM CSTF1DeKalb, AL6.0508
November 228:15 AM CSTF2DeKalb, AL5.0736
November 228:15 AM CSTF2Etowah, AL12.07312
November 228:20 AM CSTF0DeKalb, AL3.0231
November 229:30 AM ESTF1Walker, GA2.0150$500 to $5,000
November 228:40 AM CSTF2DeKalb, AL to GA10.55004$50,000 to $500,000
November 228:50 AM CSTF1Tallapoosa, AL17.05010$500,000 to $5 million
November 229:30 AM CSTF1Cleburne, AL10.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 2210:44 AM ESTF4Cobb, GA20.086746$5 million to $50 million
November 2212:10 PM ESTF3Lumpkin, GA10.086717$500,000 to $5 million
November 221:04 PM ESTF2Spalding, GA10.01003$500,000 to $5 million
November 221:35 PM ESTF1Muscogee, GA4.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:06 PM ESTF1Vigo, IN0.143$5,000 to $50,000
November 222:35 PM ESTF3Monroe, IN5.38673$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:40 PM ESTF0Monroe, GA0.550$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:55 PM ESTF3Morgan, IN15.0867$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:00 PM ESTF2Monroe, GA10.01001$50,000 to $500,000
November 223:07 PM ESTF1Montgomery, IN2.52001$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:10 PM CSTF0Geneva, AL2.220$5,000 to $50,000
November 223:20 PM ESTF0Henry, KY0.520$5,000 to $50,000
November 223:40 PM ESTF0Henry, KY3.040$500 to $5,000
November 223:45 PM ESTF3Marion, IN9.0433$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:45 PM ESTF4Putnam, GA32.0867586$5 million to $50 million
November 222:52 PM CSTF4Carroll, KY to IN26.760110$500,000 to $5 million
November 224:05 PM ESTF3Shelby, IN10.050$500,000 to $5 million
November 224:17 PM ESTF1Owen, KY2.020$5,000 to $50,000
November 224:20 PM ESTF2Hamilton, IN2.0100$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:23 PM ESTF1Hamilton, IN1.0100$500 to $5,000
November 224:34 PM ESTF2Bartholomew, IN5.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:40 PM ESTF1Wilkes, GA1.0501$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:45 PM ESTF2Shelby, IN7.550$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:54 PM ESTF1Madison, IN0.267$5,000 to $50,000
November 225:00 PM ESTF3Preble, OH20.050021$5 million to $50 million
November 225:15 PM ESTF1Brown, OH1.060$500,000 to $5 million
November 225:35 PM ESTF2Union, IN12.0200$500,000 to $5 million
November 225:00 PM CSTF3Lincoln, GA to SC67.040019$500,000 to $5 million
November 226:00 PM ESTF1Jay, IN0.210$5,000 to $50,000
November 226:00 PM ESTF2Saluda, SC30.0550$500,000 to $5 million
November 227:45 PM ESTF0Fairfield, SC0.610
November 228:12 PM ESTF0Fairfield, SC2.710
November 229:15 PM ESTF1Cleveland, NC5.0500$5,000 to $50,000
November 229:40 PM ESTF1Catawba, NC26.0800$50,000 to $500,000
November 2210:20 PM ESTF1Yadkin, NC31.080013$50,000 to $500,000
November 2212:05 AM ESTF1Greene, VA3.033$5,000 to $50,000
November 2212:10 AM ESTF0Madison, VA0.517$5,000 to $50,000

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.