EF1 tornado, Livonia to Canton, Indiana, November 5, 2017

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

November 5, 2017

Touchdown

11:20 PM EST (04:20 UTC)

Lifted

11:21 PM EST (04:21 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Washington County

Touchdown point

38.623, -86.022

Lift-off point

38.624, -86.013

Record number

1711052220-01

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

• propane tank, 500 gallon slid to south 3 feet and mud pushed cyclonically
• snapped and bent power poles and severely bent bird house poles

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

Unseasonably warm and humid air collided with a strong cold front during the evening hours on November 5. An outbreak of severe weather, including multiple tornadoes, took place across the lower Ohio Valley from portions of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. As the line of storms moved into southern Indiana, 3 tornadoes were confirmed in Washington County, in and around the town of Salem.

The National Weather Service in conjunction with Washington County|Emergency Management Agency conducted a storm survey in central|Washington County and determined there were three distinct|touchdowns near and around the Salem, Indiana area Sunday evening|November 5. The first touchdown occurred approximately 5 miles west|of Salem on SW Washington School Rd. The touchdown occurred along a|forested area which threw branches and large portions of maple and|cedar trees over the road approximately 300 yards. The most|concentrated damage was at 1630 SW Washington School Rd. There was|an uprooted tree, along with shingle, gutter, roof and barn damage.|Several toys and pumpkins were turned and thrown cyclonically|towards the west. A trampoline was thrown approximately a mile from|the house along with lots of playground toys being thrown several|hundred yards. There were some trees down further along the|farmer's field, but the tornado lifted after traveling approximately|0.6 miles where a few trees were topped where it lifted. The peak|wind speed was estimated at 80 mph and most of the damage was at the tree top|level.

The National Weather Service in conjunction with Washington County|Emergency Management Agency conducted a storm survey in central|Washington County and determined there were three distinct|touchdowns near and around the Salem, Indiana area Sunday evening|November 5. The second tornado touched down in downtown Salem at the Salem Feed|Mill on South Water Street. There was significant damage on the|upper portion of the feed mill approximately 70 feet off the ground|along with some power poles being severely bent. A multi-business|building was hit by the tornado with a large portion of its roof|lifted and dropped on the Dinner Bell restaurant. There was|extensive damage from falling brick. The tornado then hit a house|on the corner of Cherry and South High Street resulting in roof and|siding damage along with several sections of Cleveland Pear trees|snapped. The tornado lifted quickly at the intersection. The|tornado had estimated peak winds of approximately 90 to 95 mph with a width of|approximately 30 to 40 yards.

The National Weather Service in conjunction with Washington County Emergency Management Agency conducted a storm survey in central Washington County and determined there were three distinct touchdowns near and around the Salem, Indiana area Sunday evening November 5. The third tornado touched down near the intersection of Canton Road and Howell Road. Severe damage was sustained to several barns, street signs, bird houses, and metal poles that were bent or snapped. A 500 gallon propane tank moved to the south 3 feet and became lodged against a grain storage building. There was an excellent signature of mud and dirt spattering cyclonically on a grain silo. The tornado was extremely narrow and mostly at tree top level with several power poles snapped near the top. The tornado had estimated peak winds of 90 to 95 mph and width of 50 to 70 yards.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:00 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:31 UTC and running to 06:00 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:49 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 Louisville radar (KLVX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:22 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 2017 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

23 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.