EF1 tornado, Kasson to Evansville, Indiana, April 26, 2016

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

April 26, 2016

Touchdown

5:38 PM CDT (22:38 UTC)

Lifted

5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.5 miles (12.0 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Vanderburgh County

Touchdown point

38.035, -87.641

Lift-off point

37.991, -87.516

Record number

1604261638-01

30 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Several large trees uprooted
• Several tree limbs, some very large, were blown down in theis neighborhood. This one destroyed the adjoining carport.
• 7 power poles broken or leaning - 2 metal, 5 wooden,
• At least 8 buildings damaged

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

A well-developed squall line with embedded bowing structures moved east-southeast at 45 knots into a destabilizing air mass over the Lower Ohio Valley. The line was located to the south of a quasi-stationary front in a moist air mass, with surface dew points in the mid to upper 60's. Surface temperatures in the lower 80's contributed to moderate instability, which helped to maintain the line of storms into the early evening. Damaging winds, marginally severe hail, and even a tornado accompanied the strongest storms.

This tornado tracked across the northern parts of the city of Evansville, following a track along or just north of Indiana Route 66. Dozens of trees were uprooted or broken. At least eight buildings were damaged on Indiana Route 66 due to fallen electric transmission poles and lines. At least one building had part of its metal roofing peeled up at Skylane Airport, and minor damage occurred to some homes and fences. Seven power poles were snapped. Straight-line wind damage also occurred, mainly south of the tornado track, where several trees were uprooted and tree limbs broken. Several eyewitnesses observed or photographed the tornado, mainly along the northwest section of its track. Peak winds were estimated near 100 mph.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:03 UTC and running to 00:00 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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 Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:37 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 2016 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

35 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.