EF1 tornado, Hartman to Dora, Indiana, May 30, 2008

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 30, 2008

Touchdown

6:15 PM EDT (22:15 UTC)

Lifted

6:18 PM EDT (22:18 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Wabash County

Touchdown point

40.761, -85.832

Lift-off point

40.761, -85.828

Record number

0805301615-01

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 brief touchdown was confirmed in an open field just west of a residence on South State Road 13 south of West 400 S. Several trees were damaged with a pole barn being partially destroyed. A second barn had the north wall blown towards the north and a partial roof collapse as a result. Approximately 12 power poles were snapped or pushed over along State Route 13. The damage in the area was consistent with a EF1 tornado with maximum winds estimated at around 90 mph. Two minor injuries as two people were in the barn at the time the tornado struck.

Another brief tornado touched down near the intersection of 600 East and 250 S, just north of Lincolnville. After touching down in an open field, the circulation struck an older wood barn, causing the west-facing wall to fall in and some roof material to be blown off. Mud splatter was observed on the north-facing wall of the barn. A few trees were observed blown down facing west immediately north of the touchdown location. The tornado then quickly dissipated as it approached Salamonie Lake Reservoir. The damage was consistent with a EF0 with maximum winds of 80 mph. Maximum width was 25 yards and the tornado was on the ground for around one tenth of a mile. No injuries were reported.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:06 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:15 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.