Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2000

F2 tornado, North Manchester to Sidney, Indiana, June 14, 2000

From North Manchester to Sidney, this F2 tornado ran 7.0 miles across Wabash and Kosciusko counties on June 14, 2000, touching down at 5:02 PM EST and reaching 120 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 3, and did $1.0 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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
June 14, 2000
Touchdown
5:02 PM EST (22:02 UTC)
Path length
7.0 miles (11.3 km)
Path width
120 yards (110 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Property damage
$1.0 million
Counties
Wabash and Kosciusko counties
Touchdown point
41.000, -85.870
Lift-off point
41.050, -85.750
Record number
802

What the Weather Service recorded

Synoptic and mesoscale conditions for June 14th...A significant mid-level shortwave trough was located over Iowa on the morning of June 14th with an outflow dominated squall line across western Illinois. Rapid destabilization ensued later in the morning across eastern Illinois and northern Indiana with CAPES to 3500 j/kg by early afternoon. VAD wind profiles showed 850 millibar winds in excess of 50 knots in advance of the upper trough by afternoon and as storms developed along the left over outflow boundary across Illinois... they quickly became severe and organized into a large bow echo and moved quickly eastward into northern Indiana causing extensive wind damage. By late afternoon... a short segmented squall line developed just ahead of this bow echo squall line and extended from a St. Joseph to Fulton county line. Along the southern end of this line... an embedded tornadic supercell developed and interacted with a left over storm-scale outflow boundary to produce the Wabash/Kosciusko and DeKalb county tornadoes. The lack of significant low level shear likely prevented a much larger and more widespread tornado event especially across Whitley and Allen counties where several funnel clouds were captured on film but failed to touch down.

The initial tornado touchdown occurred near the intersection of SR 15 and 114. Two barns were deroofed and a grain silo was partially blown down. Several trees and limbs were taken down. The tornado lifted briefly as it crossed SR 15. It then continued on the ground for one half mile before striking another farm just west of the intersection of SR 114 and 400 W. A barn roof was blown off, and several trees and power lines were taken down. Crop damage was noted in an adjacent field. The tornado then lifted until it touched down about 1 mile to the northeast.

The tornado touched down again, hitting a farm at 1300 N and 100 W. A man suffered a broken leg here. Two hog sheds and a large grain bin were destroyed. A 200-yard swath of trees were uprooted to the northeast along the railroad tracks. Another man suffered back and chest injuries as the tornado continued to the intersection of 1300 N and Meridian Road and demolished the barn in which he stood. A 5th wheel camper was rolled 50 yards from its original position destroying it. The tornado continued to the next farm just south of 1400 N and 100 E. The barn was destroyed and the house suffered moderate damage, primarily from flying tree debris. The tornado snapped a utility pole, which fell on an 18-year-old boy, breaking his leg. Many trees and power lines were downed along the way. From here, the tornado continued until the Wabash/Kosciusko county line.

The last farm was hit when the tornado was located just west of 1300 S and 400 E in Kosciusko County. Two barns, a garage, and several outbuildings were completely destroyed with some of the foundations swept clean. The house and two cars were severely damaged from large pieces of flying debris. A 17 foot boat was thrown about 20 yards and severely damaged. Most of the trees on this farm were destroyed. Debris from this farm was carried up to one half mile away as the tornado crossed 400 E and then lifted back into the clouds.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:50 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:08 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWX
21:50 UTC22:40 UTCTornado WarningIWX

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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:07 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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

10.0 hours before the tornado, 246 km from the path. June 14, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2000-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 438 joules per kilogram, CIN -80, lifted condensation level 1296 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2000-06-14The 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 45 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 knots.193958Sfc1 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
438 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Surface CAPE
639 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1296 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
82 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

2.0 hours after it, 246 km from the path. June 15, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2000-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1151 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 934 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2000-06-15The 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 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1151 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2312 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Grissom Afb/Peru (GUS), 51 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:55 UTC82.473.4150° 14 kt1006.4
21:55 UTC82.468210° 20 kt261006.4
21:58 UTC73.464.4270° 18 kt1007.8-TSRA
22:30 UTC69.868220° 16 kt251006.8-TSRA
22:45 UTC69.868220° 13 kt1006.4
22:55 UTC69.868210° 15 kt201006.4
23:55 UTC73.468220° 12 kt1007.5

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 14, 2000

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 144:50 PM EDTF1Wood, OH0.220$250,000
June 146:00 PM ESTF2DeKalb, IN3.0400$200,000
June 146:06 PM ESTF1DeKalb, IN1.0250$300,000

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.