EF1 tornado, Palestine to Sidney, Indiana, June 30, 2014

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

June 30, 2014

Touchdown

1:06 AM EDT (05:06 UTC)

Lifted

1:08 AM EDT (05:08 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.6 miles (0.9 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kosciusko County

Touchdown point

41.198, -85.922

Lift-off point

41.191, -85.915

Record number

1406302306-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Small shed was destroyed with debris dragged and thrown towards the east. Drag marks were noted in dirt path on north side of building. Some pieces of wood impaled.
• small tree towards north east. old barn damage towards NE collapse of walls older structure.
• shingles off roof. Several pine trees uprooted and/or snapped.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A line of severe thunderstorms developed in eastern Iowa during the afternoon hours of June 30th. Plenty of instability and moisture was available for the line to mature into a severe bow-echo with the bulk of this racing northwest of the area into Wisconsin and Central Lower Michigan. The southern flank of this line did briefly take on bowing characteristics, producing gusty winds over southern Lake Michigan into portions of northwestern Indiana and far southwestern Lower Michigan before dissipating. Behind this line, a much stronger line of thunderstorms rapidly developed on a pre-frontal trough in northern Illinois. This line had much more favorable parameters to work with deep layer shear to 50 knots and a rapidly increasing low level jet to 50 knots. As this second line of convection raced into northwestern Indiana during the late evening hours, several stronger circulations were noted along the leading edge that lead to multiple tornado confirmations and swaths of at times extensive wind damage. The second event continued into July 1st with additional wind damage and confirmed tornadoes occurring during the early morning hours.

A brief EF-1 tornado was confirmed on the edge of a larger swath of damaging winds by a NWS Storm survey. The tornado touched down near a residence on South County Road 400 West where several tree trunks were snapped at the tops with 2 trees uprooted. A small barn suffered extensive roof damage and partial wall failure. The tornado quickly shifted towards the southeast, crossing State Route 25 where it began to lift. As it was lifting, over twenty 50 to 75 foot tall healthy trees were uprooted or snapped several feet in the air (DI: TS, DOD: 4). One of the trees fell onto a residence, but no injuries were reported. Maximum winds were estimated at 95 mph.

A NWS survey of damage revealed a brief tornado occurred south of Gravelton. The touchdown occurred just south of County Road 1250 North and east of County Road 400 West where a large metal barn was destroyed. The tornado crossed 1250 North and went through a corn field and impacted a small barn near County Road 200 West, north of County Road 1250 North where debris was thrown into another corn field where the circulation finally lifted. Maximum winds were estimated at 80 mph.

A NWS Storm survey confirmed a tornado touched down in Wabash County and crossed into Kosciusko County east of County Road 100 West. One farm just inside the Kosciusko county border had a hog barn destroyed with much of the debris being thrown to the southeast into a large grain silo facility. One large grain bin was completely flattened and severe damage occurred to a harvester silo. In addition, a corn crop field to the south of the county line road and east of the farm was flattened and shredded. Additional extensive crop and tree damage continued before the tornado dissipated in a grove of trees just west of County Road 400 East. The total track of the tornado across both counties was around 7 miles with maximum winds of around 100 mph.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:59 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 03:35 UTC and running to 05:44 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:05 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 2014 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

45 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.