EF0 tornado, Rivare to Wren, Indiana, May 30, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 30, 2008

Touchdown

10:57 PM CDT (03:57 UTC)

Lifted

10:59 PM CDT (03:59 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.4 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$61,000

Counties

Adams and Van Wert counties

Touchdown point

40.838, -84.803

Lift-off point

40.838, -84.798

Record number

0805302157-01

A moderately unstable, sheared environment was in place across northern Indiana ahead of a cold front. The atmosphere remained capped until the late afternoon and evening hours, when storms began to develop rapidly. Several storms south of a Monon, Indiana to Decatur, Indiana line became strong and even in some instances severe. A few storms exhibited rotation with one tornado confirmed in Wabash County.

A moderately unstable, sheared environment was in place across northwestern Ohio ahead of a cold front. The atmosphere remained capped until the evening hours, when storms began to develop rapidly with a few becoming severe. The severe storms were confined south of a Paulding to Leipsic line. A tornado touched down in the Glandorf area with other areas seeing straight-line wind damage.

A resident in Van Wert county Ohio observed a funnel touch down in an open field. Several trees were found blown down near the Adams County (IN) and Van Wert County (OH) line. A local clearing of corn stubble and debris was found. A shed at a nearby residence suffered some shingle damage. Damage was estimated at $500 for the shingle damage. The tornado moved into Van Wert county Ohio.

The tornado touched down near the Adams county, Indiana and Van Wert county, Ohio line. It proceeded across State Line Road and destroyed 2 closed, steel doors on a barn. The tornado dissipated over open field. Damage is estimated at $60,000 to the barn. No injuries were reported.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 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 00:53 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 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.

Fort Wayne (FWA), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:56 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

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

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.