Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2011

EF2 tornado, Huntingburg to Haysville, Indiana, May 25, 2011

From Huntingburg to Haysville, this EF2 tornado ran 1.9 miles across Dubois County on May 25, 2011, touching down at 9:50 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

    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
EF2
Date
May 25, 2011
Touchdown
9:50 PM EDT (01:50 UTC)
Lifted
9:52 PM EDT (01:52 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.9 miles (3.1 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Dubois County
Touchdown point
38.299, -86.934
Lift-off point
38.284, -86.963
Record number
1105251950-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Warm humid air in place across the Lower Ohio Valley ahead of deep closed low over Missouri led to widespread severe weather across the lower Missouri Valley and Indiana. A squall line developed across southern Illinois and western Kentucky during the afternoon hours on May 25th and raced across southern Indiana at around 45 mph during the evening and early morning hours on the 26th. Widespread wind damage was reported with frequent reports of 60 to 70 mph winds. A bow echo brought several embedded tornadoes across Dubois, Orange, and Washington counties in southern Indiana.

The tornado touched down on in an open field on the south side of Huntingburg. It moved northeast into a residential area, uprooting and snapping numerous large trees and doing roof damage to homes and garages on the west side of Highway 231. It damaged the roofs of several businesses along the highway before striking a mobile home park, where it completely destroyed two homes, and heavily damaged several more. Continuing into a neighborhood of wood-frame homes, the tornado destroyed two more garages - one constructed of cinder blocks - and did minor to moderate roof damage as well as snapping and uprooting trees. The twister then passed just north of the city's Municipal Park and over its water treatment facility, snapping and uprooting trees before crossing over an open field and dissipating near Highway 64 approximately 1 mile east of Huntingburg.

The tornado touched down in an open field 1.6 miles west of Haysville, destroying a metal outbuilding. After traveling over primarily open farmland - snapping trees in wooded areas along the way - the tornado entered the west side of Haysville. It uprooted and snapped the trunks of several more trees before tearing off the roof of a modular home just north of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. The tornado continue east of Highway 231, snapping trees and downing power lines before dissipating in an open field east of town. |||(thoughbefore estroying an An EF-1 Tornado touched down 1.6 miles west of Haysville and lifted just east of Haysville.

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

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:38 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:21 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:34 UTC and running to 04:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:18 UTC01:34 UTCTornado WatchLMK
22:31 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLMK
23:01 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLMK
01:34 UTC04:15 UTCTornado WatchLMK
01:38 UTC02:21 UTCTornado 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

1.8 hours before the tornado, 242 km from the path. May 26, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2011-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1870 joules per kilogram, CIN -24, lifted condensation level 1479 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2011-05-26The 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 212 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1870 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-24 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2315 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
212 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
334 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
14.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

10.2 hours after it, 242 km from the path. May 26, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2011-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 377 joules per kilogram, CIN -63, lifted condensation level 572 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2011-05-26The 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 298 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 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
377 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63 J/kg
Surface CAPE
176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
572 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
298 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
357 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Huntingburg (HNB), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:35 UTC80.668160° 9 kt141001.4
23:55 UTC80.668140° 9 kt151001.4
00:15 UTC80.666.2150° 9 kt1001
00:35 UTC80.666.2150° 10 kt151001.4
00:55 UTC80.666.2140° 10 kt201000.3
01:15 UTC80.666.2150° 10 kt17999.7
01:35 UTC80.666.2160° 13 kt201000.7

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

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:50 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
22:47 UTCHAIL 1.751 S IrelandDubois, IN
01:08 UTCTSTM WND GST 70PrincetonGibson, INWIND GUSTS ESTIMATED 60 TO 70 MPH.
01:24 UTCDOWNBURST2 Sw ElberfeldWarrick, INSTRAIGHT LINE WINDS ESTIMATED AT 70 MPH. SEVERAL TREES UPROOTED. SHINGLES BLOWN OFF FIRE STATION. LARGE TREE BLOWN OVER ONTO A GARAGE. DAMAGE WAS GENERALLY FROM JUST SOUTHWEST OF TOWN INTO ELBERFELD ITSELF.
01:25 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDBuckskinGibson, IN
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGBoonvilleWarrick, IN*** 1 INJ *** LARGE TREE FELL ON HOME INJURING ONE PERSON.
01:35 UTCTORNADOCoePike, INEF2 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 4.5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF OAKLAND CITY. 120 MPH PEAK WINDS...AVG PATH WIDTH 175 YDS...PATH LENGTH 1.5 MILES. THOUSANDS OF LARGE TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED ON MINE RECLAMATION LAND NORTH OF CR 90
01:36 UTCTORNADO3 Sw WinslowPike, INSTORM DAMAGE SURVEY REVEALED AN EF1 TORNADO THAT MOVED FROM JUST NORTH OF COLE INDIANA TO 4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF WINSLOW. SEE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT FOR DETAILS.
01:39 UTCTORNADO4 S WinslowPike, INA DAMAGE SURVEY REVEALED AN EF1 TORNADO THAT MOVED FROM 4 MILES SOUTH OF WINSLOW TO 4.25 MILES SOUTHEAST OF WINSLOW. SEE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT FOR DETAILS.
01:42 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw Monroe CityKnox, INDOWNED PWR LINES SR 241 AND HART ST RD
01:50 UTCTORNADO1 Se HuntingburgDubois, INEF-2 WITH 115 MPH WINDS
01:51 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDRockportSpencer, IN
01:52 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDRockportSpencer, INWIND DAMAGE TO TREE AND POWER LINES.
01:54 UTCTORNADO1 W HaysvilleDubois, INEF-1 WITH 100 MPH WINDS. HOME IN HAYSVILLE LOST ITS ROOF. MANY TREES DAMAGED.
01:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGHuntingburgDubois, INOVERTURNED MOBILE HOMES
01:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGJasperDubois, INWIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES REPORTED IN JASPER.
01:56 UTCTSTM WND DMGHuntingburgDubois, INTRACTOR TRAILER BLOWN OVER. CORRECTED TIME.
02:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGHaysvilleDubois, INOUTBUILDINGS DEMOLISHED AND TREES DOWN
02:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 70LoogooteeMartin, IN
02:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 62RockportSpencer, IN
02:15 UTCTSTM WND GST 6010 W EnglishCrawford, IN
02:22 UTCTORNADO2 S OrleansOrange, INEF-2 WITH 115 MPH WINDS. TWO BRICK HOMES AND ONE WOOD FRAME HOME HEAVILY DAMAGED. WOOD BARN AND METAL OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED. 4.7 MILE LONG PATH.
02:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 70CurbyCrawford, IN
02:29 UTCTSTM WND GST 65MilltownCrawford, IN
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGEnglishCrawford, INROOF OFF OF A SMALL BUILDING
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGHuntingburgDubois, INTRACTOR TRAILER BLOWN OVER
02:32 UTCTSTM WND DMGBoonvilleWarrick, INMULTIPLE LARGE TREES DOWN ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF TOWN.
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGBristowPerry, INTREES DOWN...SOME DAMAGE TO HOMES INCLUDING SIDING BLOWN OFF HOMES

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 25, 2011

93 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 251:30 AM CDTEF1Webster, MO9.3100$20,000
May 257:35 AM CDTEF1Macon, IL1.075$165,000
May 257:39 AM CDTEF1Macon, IL1.575$100,000
May 259:04 AM CDTEF1Kankakee, IL5.850$250,000
May 259:13 AM CDTEF0Newton, IN0.120$25,000
May 259:19 AM CDTEF2Newton, IN1.9300$50,000
May 259:24 AM CDTEF1Jasper, IN2.9100$500
May 259:26 AM CDTEF1Jasper, IN1.9100$50,000
May 2510:45 AM EDTEF0Pulaski, IN0.850
May 2510:45 AM CDTEF0Miami, KS0.140$5,000
May 2511:10 AM CDTEF0Johnson, KS0.760$10,000
May 2511:22 AM CDTEF0Johnson, KS0.140
May 2511:35 AM CDTEF0Cass, MO0.140
May 2511:38 AM CDTEF0Johnson, KS0.140
May 2512:22 PM CDTEF2Pettis, MO2.150020$4.0 million
May 2512:33 PM CDTEF0Clay, MO0.140
May 2512:45 PM CDTEF0Clay, MO0.140
May 2512:52 PM CDTEF0Pettis, MO0.140
May 251:04 PM CDTEF0Cooper, MO0.140
May 251:07 PM CDTEF0Lafayette, MO0.140
May 252:15 PM CDTEF1Montgomery, MO7.1100
May 253:26 PM EDTEF0Van Wert, OH0.140
May 252:56 PM CDTEF1Oregon, MO2.5100$20,000
May 253:49 PM CDTEF3Carter, MO47.41,2002$800,000
May 254:13 PM CDTEF1Jackson, AR5.5500$40,000
May 255:15 PM EDTEF1Decatur, IN0.8600$500,000
May 255:20 PM EDTEF1Decatur, IN0.1400$250,000
May 254:35 PM CDTEF1Madison, MO5.540
May 254:37 PM CDTEF1Wayne, MO17.8150$70,000
May 254:44 PM CDTEF0Carter, MO0.550$2,000
May 254:45 PM CDTEF1Des Moines, IA4.8100$250,000
May 254:46 PM CDTEF1Madison, MO5.3440
May 254:47 PM CDTEF1Madison, MO4.3580
May 254:51 PM CDTEF0Perry, MO0.360$3,000
May 254:58 PM CDTEF0Ripley, MO0.750
May 256:00 PM EDTEF1Huron, OH8.050$250,000
May 255:00 PM CDTEF1Des Moines, IA3.650$50,000
May 255:14 PM CDTEF0Butler, MO0.740
May 256:14 PM EDTEF0Hardin, OH0.225
May 255:26 PM CDTEF1Bollinger, MO13.0250$30,000
May 256:06 PM CDTEF0McLean, IL0.925$8,000
May 256:09 PM CDTEF1McLean, IL10.375$10,000
May 257:10 PM EDTEF0Montgomery, OH0.125$5,000
May 256:18 PM CDTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO2.1250$20,000
May 256:18 PM CDTEF0St. Francis, AR1.1100
May 256:28 PM CDTEF2Jefferson, IL13.5250$4.0 million
May 256:30 PM CDTEF0Scott, MO0.450$1,000
May 257:30 PM EDTEF0Summit, OH4.250$200,000
May 256:39 PM CDTEF1Union, IL2.0125$150,000
May 256:40 PM CDTEF1Pulaski, IL5.5250$50,000
May 256:45 PM CDTEF1Pulaski, IL10.0120$40,000
May 256:48 PM CDTEF1Crittenden, AR2.5100$500,000
May 256:55 PM CDTEF2Pulaski, IL19.9325$255,000
May 256:58 PM CDTEF0Champaign, IL0.215$5,000
May 257:58 PM EDTEF3Lawrence, IN6.8300$150,000
May 255:08 PM PDTEF1Glenn, CA21.6120$200,000
May 255:12 PM PDTEF1Glenn, CA26.4120$150,000
May 257:18 PM CDTEF1Clay, IL1.075$510,000
May 257:35 PM CDTEF0Richland, IL0.210
May 257:57 PM CDTEF2Crawford, IL5.5200$920,000

All 94 of them

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.