Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2006
F0 tornado, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, April 14, 2006
This F0 tornado ran 3.2 miles across Tippecanoe County on April 14, 2006, touching down at 7:58 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F0
- Date
- April 14, 2006
- Touchdown
- 7:58 PM EDT (23:58 UTC)
- Path length
- 3.2 miles (5.1 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Tippecanoe County
- Touchdown point
- 40.550, -86.930
- Lift-off point
- 40.530, -86.870
- Record number
- 372
The warnings
11 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:47 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:09 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:15 UTC | 19:47 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | IND |
| 23:09 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | IND |
| 23:39 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND |
| 23:47 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | IND |
| 23:57 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | IND |
| 00:20 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | IND |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 22:14 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.
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
12.0 hours before the tornado, 150 km from the path. April 14, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1011 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -195 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 845 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1797 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 254 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 194 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.5 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
0.0 hours before the tornado, 150 km from the path. April 15, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2079 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2387 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1966 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 285 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 13.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 8.4 K/km
The surface observations
Lafayette (LAF), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:54 UTC | 73 | 66 | 110° 5 kt | 1002.4 | ||
| 23:42 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 150° 10 kt | 1000 | VCTS HZ | |
| 23:54 UTC | 72 | 64 | 160° 9 kt | 1000 | VCTS | |
| 00:36 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 360° 8 kt | 1002.7 | +TSRA BR | |
| 00:50 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 5 kt | 1002 | TSRA BR | |
| 00:54 UTC | 68 | 65 | 110° 8 kt | 1002 | +TSRA BR | |
| 01:06 UTC | 68 | 66.2 | 160° 7 kt | 1000.7 | -TSRA BR | |
| 01:54 UTC | 69 | 65 | 190° 7 kt | 1000.7 | VCTS -RA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:58 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:30 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Rensselaer | Jasper, IN | NICKLE SIZED HAIL REPORTED IN RENSSELAER...VIA JASPER COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT |
| 23:31 UTC | HAIL 1 | Wolcott | White, IN | HAIL MEASURED IN WOLCOTT |
| 23:32 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Wolcott | White, IN | GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL OBSERVED 4 MILES WEST OF WOLCOTT |
| 23:32 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Remington | Jasper, IN | GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL IN REMINGTON |
| 23:43 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Wolcott | White, IN | HAIL OBSERVED IN WOLCOTT |
| 23:45 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Ambia | Benton, IN | |
| 23:50 UTC | HAIL 1 | Fowler | Benton, IN | PEA TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF COUNTY. |
| 23:50 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | Remington | Jasper, IN | BROKEN GLASS. |
| 23:52 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 5 W Chalmers | White, IN | HAIL MEASURED 5 MILES WEST OF CHALMERS BY NWS COOP OBSERVER |
| 23:55 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Boswell | Benton, IN | SOUTH OF TOWN AT THE COUNTY LINE. |
| 23:57 UTC | TORNADO | Ambia | Benton, IN | |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 7 Sw Pine Village | Warren, IN | THREE QUARTER INCH DIAMETER HAIL |
| 00:02 UTC | TORNADO | Battle Ground | Tippecanoe, IN | TORNADO REPORTED NEAR BATTLE GROUND |
| 00:04 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Delphi | Carroll, IN | NUMEROUS REPORTS OF GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WESTERN PARTS OF CARROLL COUNTY |
| 00:05 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 N Attica | Fountain, IN | PENNY SIZE HAIL 1 NORTH OF ATTICA |
| 00:10 UTC | HAIL 1 | Boswell | Benton, IN | ACROSS PORTIONS OF COUNTY WITH POCKESTS OF FLOODING. |
| 00:15 UTC | HAIL 1 | 5 N Williamsport | Warren, IN | QUARTER SIZE HAIL 5 N OF WILLIAMSPORT |
| 00:15 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Delphi | Carroll, IN | GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL AT DELPHI/STATE POLICE RPTD WALL CLOUD SW OF DELPHI |
| 00:19 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 2 Ne Williamsport | Fountain, IN | STATE POLICE RPT FUNNEL CLOUD 2 NE OF WILLIAMSPORT |
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND GST 68 | Williamsport | Warren, IN | MEASURED GUST OF 68 MPH AT COUNTY EOC |
| 00:22 UTC | HAIL 2.5 | 10 N Attica | Warren, IN | TENNIS BALL SIZE HAIL HALFWAY BETWEEN ATTICA AND PINE VILLAGE |
| 00:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | West Lebanon | Warren, IN | ROOF OFF/WALLS DOWN ON BUSINESS |
| 00:35 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 8 S Lafayette | Tippecanoe, IN | PENNY SIZE HAIL 8S SOUTH OF LAFAYETTE |
| 00:37 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 W Otterbein | Benton, IN | |
| 00:45 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Burlington | Carroll, IN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AT BURLINGTON |
| 00:51 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 E Royal Center | Cass, IN | |
| 00:55 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Linden | Montgomery, IN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AT LINDEN |
| 01:00 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W Crawfordsville | Montgomery, IN | STATE POLICE RPT TORNADO |
| 01:02 UTC | FLOOD | Linden | Montgomery, IN | LOTS OF STREET FLOODING/POWER OUTAGE |
| 01:15 UTC | FLOOD | Linden | Montgomery, IN | WATER OVER RD BETWEEN 900N AND 500N |
| 01:25 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 N Remington | Jasper, IN | TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED. |
| 01:30 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Remington | Jasper, IN | HAIL RANGED FROM NICKLE TO GOLF BALL SIZE...VIA JASPER COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT |
| 01:42 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3.5 S Wolcott | White, IN | |
| 01:43 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Wolcott | White, IN | |
| 01:50 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Wolcott | White, IN | |
| 01:52 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 5 Wnw Brookston | White, IN | |
| 02:04 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Burnettsville | White, IN | ON US24...NEAR THE WHITE AND CASS COUNTY LINE |
| 02:10 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Delphi | Carroll, IN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL RPTD BY STATE POLICE AT DELPHI |
| 02:11 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 W Logansport | Cass, IN | |
| 02:30 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Rossville | Clinton, IN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL NEAR ROSSVILLE/HAIL GETTING LARGER |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 14, 2006
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.