EF0 tornado, East Richmond Arpt, Indiana, June 15, 2019

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

June 15, 2019

Touchdown

9:51 PM EDT (01:51 UTC)

Lifted

9:54 PM EDT (01:54 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$225,000

County

Wayne County

Touchdown point

39.821, -84.850

Lift-off point

39.839, -84.832

Record number

1906151951-01

Severe thunderstorms developed on a stalled frontal boundary draped across the region.

The tornado first touched down along South 37th Street, just to the south of Backmeyer Road, as indicated by swirl marks in an adjacent field. Two trees were snapped along South 37th Street.||The tornado then moved north-northeast, producing damage at the Brookdale Nursing Home on South A Street. Five to ten percent of the roof was removed. One tree, four inches in diameter, was knocked down and several smaller limbs from trees were also knocked down.||The most significant damage was observed at the Richmond Mall where several air handlers on the roof were removed and one was blown northeast onto U.S. 40. The parking lot was also full of debris and a large store on the southwest side of the mall had fifty percent of the glass blown in. On the east side of the mall, a brick wall seven feet high by thirty feet long was destroyed and some of the facade was starting to peel away from the roof. Around that same area, a garage door was blown in. Overall less than five percent of the roof of the mall was removed. On the inside of the mall approximately eight businesses experienced damage, primarily from windows blown out and merchandise blown around. Winds at the Richmond Mall were estimated to be around 85 mph, which is rated at the highest end for an EF0 tornado.||Some of the roof material from the mall landed in three to five businesses on the other side of US 40. Those businesses also received minor damage, with isolated windows being blown out and also some observed damage to signage and siding. A concrete table was moved several feet from its original position, and there was also minor small tree damage. In the service station at the intersection of US 40 and Hayes Arboretum Rd, an adult and a child were sitting in a car when the windows were blown in, causing minor injuries. They were taken to the hospital, treated and released.||Further northeast along Woodside Drive, a large hardwood tree fell to the southwest onto a house and also a tall metal television antenna fell the opposite direction onto the house. Extensive tree damage was also observed near the house, with several two foot diameter trees blown down. Debris from the signage of businesses was scattered throughout the property on Woodside Drive.||The property next door also experienced some damage, particularly with the garage being shifted and a tree limb also knocked down onto the house. Further down along Woodside Drive, several large tree limbs were knocked down. On Sycamore Drive, isolated two to three foot diameter trees were knocked down.||The last visible damage from this tornado appeared to be along Gravel Pit Road, where an additional one or two trees were knocked down.

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 tornado watch, issued at 00:40 UTC and running to 03:08 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 01:46 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 Cincinnati radar (KILN), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:52 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

28 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.