Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2006

F0 tornado, Mays, Indiana, August 28, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Rush County on August 28, 2006, touching down at 8:17 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
August 28, 2006
Touchdown
8:17 PM EDT (00:17 UTC)
Path length
0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Rush County
Touchdown point
39.770, -85.470
Lift-off point
39.770, -85.470
Record number
849

What the Weather Service recorded

An isolated severe thunderstorm produced a tornado and nickel size hail in Rush County.

A weak tornado touched down in Rush County on the evening of 28 August 2006. The tornado was observed by the representatives of the county emergency management agency and sheriff's department. Two homes sustained minor roof damage and several small outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. Some corn was destroyed as well.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:03 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:15 UTC and running to 02:07 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:00 UTC23:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchIND
00:03 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningIND
00:15 UTC02:07 UTCTornado WatchIND

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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), 00:00Z

0.3 hours before the tornado, 148 km from the path. August 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2006-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1216 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 657 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2006-08-29The 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 88 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
1216 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1834 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
657 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

11.7 hours after it, 148 km from the path. August 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2006-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 634 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 549 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2006-08-29The 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 22 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
634 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1119 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Shelbyville (GEZ), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:53 UTC8073180° 8 kt1007.5
23:31 UTC78.873.4200° 6 kt1007.5VCTS
23:53 UTC7874200° 6 kt1007.1
00:53 UTC7772240° 9 kt1007.5-RA
01:06 UTC75.273.4220° 18 kt211008.1+RA BR
01:15 UTC75.273.4190° 9 kt1007.8VCTS -RA BR
01:17 UTC75.271.6200° 14 kt201007.8VCTS -RA BR
01:30 UTC75.271.6200° 7 kt1007.8RA BR
01:41 UTC73.471.6210° 8 kt1008.1
01:53 UTC7472210° 6 kt1008.1

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

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:18 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
00:17 UTCTORNADO6 Ene CarthageRush, INTWO HOMES WITH MINOR ROOF DAMAGE. SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. ONLY TORNADO TO OCCUR.
00:18 UTCTORNADO11 N RushvilleRush, INTORNADO ON THE GROUND AT STATE ROAD 3 AND COUNTY ROAD 1100 NORTH.
00:18 UTCTORNADO11 N RushvilleRush, INTORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR STATE ROAD 3 AND COUNTY ROAD 1100 NORTH. ONLY TORNADO TO OCCUR.
00:26 UTCTORNADO12 Nne RushvilleRush, INPOSSIBLE TORNADO ON THE GROUND ON RUSH AND HENRY COUNTY LINE JUST NORTHEAST OF STATE ROAD 3.
00:39 UTCHAIL 0.8810 Ne RushvilleRush, IN
01:30 UTCFLOODDublinWayne, IN1.5 FEET OF WATER OVER HIGHWAY 40...HIGH WATER ACROSS COUNTY WITH WATER ENTERING HOMES

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 August 28, 2006

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 286:22 PM EDTF0Pickaway, OH1.550$250,000
August 286:42 PM EDTF0Pickaway, OH0.110$1,000
August 287:10 PM EDTF0Franklin, OH0.110$1,000
August 287:28 PM EDTF0Franklin, OH0.110$1,000
August 287:55 PM EDTF1Adams, IN2.075$120,000
August 289:20 PM EDTF0Mercer, OH0.860$20,000
August 289:45 PM EDTF1Putnam, OH1.075$10,000
August 2810:00 PM EDTF0Auglaize, OH0.8300$100,000

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.