Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2008

EF1 tornado, Lexington, Indiana, January 29, 2008

This EF1 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Scott County on January 29, 2008, touching down at 8:10 PM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $70,000 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
January 29, 2008
Touchdown
8:10 PM EST (01:10 UTC)
Lifted
8:12 PM EST (01:12 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$70,000
County
Scott County
Touchdown point
38.650, -85.614
Lift-off point
38.650, -85.580
Record number
0801291910-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A powerful cold front sparked a lengthy squall line that crossed all of southern Indiana on the evening of January 29. A large number of locations had 60 to as much as 100 mph winds, causing extensive property damage. There were also a few small tornado spin-ups, one of which caused a fatality when a tree fell onto a mobile home near Henryville, Indiana.

An EF1 tornado touched down just east of Lexington. It snapped and uprooted trees, destroyed a mobile home, and caused roof damage to a number of homes.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:43 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:00 UTC08:29 UTCWind AdvisoryLMK
22:43 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLMK
00:19 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLMK
00:52 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLMK

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 00:45 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

1.2 hours before the tornado, 178 km from the path. January 30, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2008-01-30Temperature 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 -40224, lifted condensation level 787 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 00:00Z on 2008-01-30The 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 394 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 80 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-40224 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
787 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
80 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
394 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
451 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.8 hours after it, 178 km from the path. January 30, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2008-01-30Temperature 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 -116259, lifted condensation level 962 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 2008-01-30The 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 239 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 81 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-116259 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
81 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
374 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

The surface observations

Louisville/Bowman (LOU), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:39 UTC55.453.6170° 8 kt17991.5-RA
23:53 UTC5753180° 13 kt21991.2
00:53 UTC5953180° 17 kt33989.8
01:03 UTC60.853.6190° 19 kt27989.8
01:13 UTC53.646.4270° 26 kt48992.6VCTS +RA
01:19 UTC48.242.8270° 24 kt44992.9VCTS RA
01:22 UTC48.241270° 23 kt39993.2VCTS RA
01:38 UTC46.439.2270° 21 kt35993.9-RA
01:53 UTC4538270° 24 kt37994.6-RA
02:40 UTC39.230.2280° 26 kt33998
02:53 UTC3628260° 21 kt38999.3

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

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:10 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
00:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGSalemWashington, INBARN DESTROYED ON SOUTH CHURCH ROAD AND ANOTHER BARN DEMOLISHED ON FAIRVIEW ROAD
00:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 65MartinsburgWashington, IN
00:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 W SeymourJackson, INTREE FELL ON HOUSE
00:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew AlbanyFloyd, INNUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY AND SEVERAL ROADS ARE BLOCKED BY DOWNED TREES
00:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGScottsburgScott, INONE TRAILER BLOWN OVER AND NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN
01:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGHenryvilleClark, INTRAILER BLOWN OVER WITH ONE CONFIRMED FATALITY
01:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSellersburgClark, INTREES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY
01:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGMadisonJefferson, INTREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY
01:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Nw North VernonJennings, INHOUSE TRAILER FLIPPED NEAR SCIPIO.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 29, 2008

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 294:09 PM CSTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO to IL4.3200$85,000
January 295:07 PM CSTEF2Posey, IN7.01002$250,000
January 297:20 PM ESTEF1Marion, IN0.150$100,000
January 297:40 PM ESTEF1Washington, IN10.7200$60,000
January 297:58 PM ESTEF1Clark, IN0.21001$50,000
January 298:00 PM ESTEF1Jefferson, KY16.4100$3.0 million
January 299:00 PM ESTEF0Preble, OH2.080$25,000

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.