Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2007

EF1 tornado, New Lancaster, Indiana, April 11, 2007

This EF1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Tipton County on April 11, 2007, touching down at 7:30 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $32,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF1
Date
April 11, 2007
Touchdown
7:30 PM EDT (23:30 UTC)
Lifted
7:31 PM EDT (23:31 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$32,000
County
Tipton County
Touchdown point
40.210, -86.027
Lift-off point
40.210, -86.027
Record number
0704111730-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms moved through central Indiana on the afternoon of 11 April 2007. The storms produced tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds. The National Weather Service Indianapolis damage assessment teams confirmed four tornadoes in central Indiana. These tornadoes occurred from mini supercells.

A large barn and two outbuildings were damaged due to an EF1 tornado. This is a continuation of the Hamilton County EF2 tornado.

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

The warnings

17 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:13 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:32 UTC and running to 00:59 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:32 UTC00:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchIND
22:37 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningIND
23:13 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningIND
23:19 UTC23:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningIND

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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

11.5 hours before the tornado, 209 km from the path. April 11, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-04-11Temperature 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 -91143, lifted condensation level 1328 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-04-11The 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 260 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-91143 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1328 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
260 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
339 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

0.5 hours after it, 209 km from the path. April 12, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2007-04-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 305 joules per kilogram, CIN -16, lifted condensation level 634 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 2007-04-12The 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 241 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
305 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Surface CAPE
178 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
634 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
241 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
252 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
1.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:31 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
20:41 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W GreenfieldHancock, INTREES AND POWER LINES DOWN NEAR 200W AND FURRY RD
21:43 UTCTSTM WND GST 58BrownsburgHendricks, IN
21:53 UTCTSTM WND GST 58BrownsburgHendricks, IN
21:56 UTCHAIL 0.75LebanonBoone, IN
22:32 UTCTSTM WND GST 60LawrenceMarion, IN1/4 INCH HAIL
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 E LiztonHendricks, INROOF DAMAGE...FARM BUILDING DAMAGE...TREES DOWN
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ese LiztonHendricks, INTREES AND POWERLINES DOWN 3/4 MI EAST ON US136
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S LiztonHendricks, INBARN DAMAGE...ROOF OFF 2 HOUSES...5 HOUSES DAMAGED
22:51 UTCTSTM WND DMGLebanonBoone, INSR39 AND I-65...BILLBOARDS DOWN...METAL DEBRIS
22:51 UTCTSTM WND DMGPittsboroHendricks, INSR39 AND I-74...BILLBOARDS DOWN...METAL DEBRIS
22:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E LiztonHendricks, INMETAL DEBRIS REPORTED IN ROADWAY
23:04 UTCTSTM WND GST 506 Nne IndianapolisMarion, IN56TH ST. AND KEYSTONE AVE.
23:07 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD8 Sw TiptonHamilton, IN3/4 INCH HAIL
23:29 UTCTORNADO3 E ArcadiaHamilton, IN266TH ST AND SR 213
23:42 UTCTSTM WND DMGAndersonMadison, INLARGE TREE BLOWN DOWN.
23:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 802 S ElwoodMadison, IN1 INCH HAIL
23:46 UTCTSTM WND GST 60AndersonMadison, IN

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 11, 2007

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 113:14 PM CDTEF1Jefferson, AL0.640$20,000
April 114:20 PM EDTEF0Clay, IN0.150$3,000
April 113:47 PM CDTEF1Chilton, AL1.0200$11,000
April 115:35 PM EDTEF0Hendricks, IN0.150
April 115:05 PM CDTEF0Elmore, AL0.125$5,000
April 115:18 PM CDTEF1Tallapoosa, AL0.950$20,000
April 116:37 PM EDTEF1Hendricks, IN4.975$70,000
April 115:54 PM CDTEF1Macon, AL11.5400$15,000
April 117:25 PM EDTEF2Hamilton, IN4.0100$150,000

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.