EF1 tornado, Orleans Arpt to Bono, Indiana, May 25, 2011

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 25, 2011

Touchdown

10:28 PM EDT (02:28 UTC)

Lifted

10:30 PM EDT (02:30 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35,000

Counties

Orange and Lawrence counties

Touchdown point

38.686, -86.340

Lift-off point

38.702, -86.309

Record number

1105252028-01

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 approach of a strong low pressure system from the west set the stage for a significant severe weather outbreak across central Indiana on May 25th. Eight tornadoes touched down in central Indiana, with an additional one moving into the area from southern Indiana. In addition, widespread wind damage and large hail impacted the area. Straight line winds to over 70 mph impacted the area as well, knocking down trees, power lines, as well as damaging structures and blowing over trucks. Straight line wind damage was noted near the tornado paths as well. Hail into the 3 to 4 inch range fell from some of the storms, causing damage. The large hail stones were also blown into structures by the strong straight line winds, causing additional damage.

This tornado touched down along Highway 37 south of Orleans, uprooting and snapping several trees. It expanded to its maximum width and strength one mile into its path, where it heavily damaged two brick homes and one wooden frame home, as well downing power lines and poles. In this area it also did extensive damage to several outbuildings, completely destroying one barn and overturning a tractor within. The tornado continued to the northeast, damaging another outbuilding a mile to the northeast and uprooting and snapping numerous trees before finally lifting in an open field 3/4 mile southwest of the community of Leipsic.

Beginning in an open field less than a quarter of a mile south of the Orange/Lawrence County line, this tornado tracked northeastward for 3.2 miles across portions of three counties. Near its touch down 3.1 miles northwest of Saltillo, it destroyed a large wooden barn and uprooted several trees on the south side of Suddarth Ln before entering Lawrence County. It had a path length of 0.3 miles in Orange County.

An EF-1 tornado crossed into Lawrence County about three miles south, southwest of Bond. This tornado then tracked northeast for approximately 1.7 miles before leaving Lawrence County about two miles southwest of Bono. The tornado then continued into Washington County. In total, this tornado was on the ground for approximately 3.2 miles before lifting. In Lawrence County, minor damage was done to a homestead and numerous trees were downed.

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

50 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:38 UTC, 50 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:34 UTC and running to 04:15 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 0.15 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 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.

Bloomington (BMG), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:27 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 2011 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

93 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 94 of them

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.