Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2016

EF0 tornado, Linden, Indiana, May 1, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Montgomery County on May 1, 2016, touching down at 8:38 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 1, 2016
Touchdown
8:38 PM EDT (00:38 UTC)
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Montgomery County
Touchdown point
40.170, -86.917
Lift-off point
40.170, -86.917
Record number
1605011838-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IND, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

  • Tornado touched down briefly in a field. No damage.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

An area of low pressure moved along a cold front, bringing thunderstorms to portions of central Indiana. These storms produced a tornado, along with large hail and downed trees and power lines.

An EF-0 tornado touched down briefly in a field and caused no damage. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 70 mph.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:31 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 00:00 UTC and running to 02:22 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC02:22 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchIND
00:05 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningIND
00:31 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningIND
00:50 UTC01:08 UTCTornado WarningIND

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:33 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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 143 km from the path. May 2, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2016-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 71 joules per kilogram, CIN -71, lifted condensation level 494 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2016-05-02The 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 66 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 71 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
71 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71 J/kg
Surface CAPE
86 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
494 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
71 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 143 km from the path. May 2, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2016-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -103760, lifted condensation level 566 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2016-05-02The 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 -29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-103760 J/kg
Surface CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:35 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
23:56 UTCHAIL 0.25CovingtonFountain, INJUST EAST OF CITY LIMITS ON 136. HOME WEATHER STATION IS MEASURING THE RAINFALL RATE AT ROUGHLY 3.6 INCHES PER HOUR. RAINFALL IS THE ACTUAL AMOUNT IN THE LAST HOUR.
23:56 UTCHEAVY RAIN 0.31CovingtonFountain, INJUST EAST OF CITY LIMITS ON 136. HOME WEATHER STATION IS MEASURING THE RAINFALL RATE AT ROUGHLY 3.6 INCHES PER HOUR. RAINFALL IS THE ACTUAL AMOUNT IN THE LAST HOUR.
00:38 UTCFLOODLindenMontgomery, INAT INTERSECTION HIGHWAY 231 AND HIGHWAY 28. MOVING EASTBOUND ON 28....HAIL APPEARS TO BE GETTING LARGER. STARTED ABOUT 5 MINUTES AGO AND IS ON GOING. STANDING WATER ON THE ROADS. DEEP ENOUGH TO CAUSE HYDROPLANING.
00:38 UTCHAIL 0.25LindenMontgomery, INAT INTERSECTION HIGHWAY 231 AND HIGHWAY 28. MOVING EASTBOUND ON 28....HAIL APPEARS TO BE GETTING LARGER. STARTED ABOUT 5 MINUTES AGO AND IS ON GOING. STANDING WATER ON THE ROADS. DEEP ENOUGH TO CAUSE HYDROPLANING.
00:38 UTCHAIL 1GreencastlePutnam, INBROKEN WINDOWS FROM HAIL.
00:42 UTCHAIL 1.75LindenMontgomery, INVARIED IN SIZE
00:45 UTCTORNADOLindenMontgomery, INONGOING
00:52 UTCTORNADO2 N DarlingtonMontgomery, INTORNADO ON THE GROUND
01:13 UTCHEAVY RAIN 01 N ThorntownBoone, INHEAVY RAIN ON GOING
01:20 UTCHAIL 0.7GreencastlePutnam, IN
01:33 UTCHAIL 13 S KirklinBoone, INLOCATION ESTIMATED BY RADAR. AT 850 NORTH AND 300 WEST

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

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.