Tornadoes · United States · Indiana

1998 tornadoes in Indiana

33 tornadoes touched down in Indiana in 1998, 45 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1997 1999 The whole country in 1998

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 1998

March 28 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 2810:05 AM ESTF0Whitley0.130
March 2810:21 AM ESTF1Allen0.350$30,000

April 7 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 78:33 PM ESTF0Vermillion0.180$30,000
April 79:45 PM ESTF1Montgomery1.2100$30,000
April 79:51 PM ESTF0Pike0.540

April 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1512:15 AM ESTF2Pike4.050$500,000

May 3 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 33:13 PM ESTF0Allen0.130
May 33:21 PM ESTF0Allen0.130
May 33:25 PM ESTF0Allen0.130
May 34:36 PM ESTF0Huntington0.130

May 19 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 196:10 PM ESTF0Starke0.130
May 196:40 PM ESTF0Vermillion0.180$10,000
May 196:45 PM ESTF0Wabash0.130

May 31 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 3112:44 PM ESTF0DeKalb0.130
May 311:15 PM ESTF0DeKalb0.130

June 11 10 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 116:09 PM ESTF4Hancock13.24004$1.5 million
June 116:28 PM ESTF2Pulaski9.01001$1.0 million
June 116:45 PM ESTF2Hancock16.0300$410,000
June 117:03 PM ESTF3Howard18.58008$5.5 million
June 117:20 PM ESTF0Randolph5.0150$10,000
June 117:22 PM ESTF1Henry11.0200$810,000
June 117:33 PM ESTF1Kosciusko2.01004$800,000
June 117:41 PM ESTF1Madison17.0500$2.0 million
June 119:34 PM ESTF1Wells1.050$150,000
June 119:40 PM ESTF1Jay2.050$300,000

June 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 124:17 PM CDTF0LaPorte0.150$50,000

June 29 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 297:05 PM ESTF0Clay1.080$30,000
June 297:58 PM ESTF0Daviess1.280$10,000

July 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 39:30 PM ESTF0Saint Joseph0.130

July 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 41:30 AM ESTF1Tippecanoe8.0120$200,000

July 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 198:25 PM CDTF0LaPorte1.530

August 7 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 72:28 PM CDTF0Vanderburgh0.130$10,000

August 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 251:35 AM ESTF1Elkhart0.5100$300,000

Crossed into Indiana

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Indiana. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 251:00 AM CDTF2Berrien, MI to IN26.0300$2.1 million

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.