EF1 tornado, Oakland City, Indiana, February 7, 2019

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

February 7, 2019

Touchdown

11:12 AM CST (17:12 UTC)

Lifted

11:16 AM CST (17:16 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

County

Gibson County

Touchdown point

38.322, -87.376

Lift-off point

38.336, -87.333

Record number

1902071112-01

12 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 110 mph.

• Trunk partially hollowed out. Next to deroofed metal building.
• Virtually all roof missing. Don’t know if door was open or not. Debris not lofted a long way. est path width 50 yards.
• Partial roof removal, possible damage to roll up doors.
• Path width appears wider here, based on tree damage across the street and location of apartment building. Inflow winds may have increased damage on the right side of the path...Tree and building adjacent were apparently undamaged. Path width est to be about 100 yards.

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

A line of thunderstorms developed early in the morning from western Arkansas into south central Missouri ahead of a strong cold front. This line of storms intensified as it moved east-northeast across the mid Mississippi Valley later in the morning. Some severe weather continued through the midday hours as the line progressed up the lower Ohio Valley. This line of storms was the final round of heavy rain, which capped a very wet couple days that resulted in storm totals of 2 to 4 inches. Isolated higher amounts up to near 5 inches were reported. Isolated flooding was reported. Although instability was weak, very strong winds aloft facilitated isolated severe storms and a tornado.

A National Weather Service damage survey determined that damage in Oakland City was caused by a tornado with a peak intensity rating of EF-1. Maximum winds were estimated near 110 mph. A large metal storage building lost most of its roof at a golf course. Several apartment buildings received significant roof damage, with many shingles removed. A self storage building near the apartments had partial roof damage. Additional homes had minor shingle damage. Several large trees were snapped and knocked over. Power poles were snapped.

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.

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:14 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.

Evansville (EVV), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:14 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 2019 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.