EF1 tornado, Prescott to Waldron, Indiana, July 29, 2021

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

July 29, 2021

Touchdown

7:58 PM EDT (23:58 UTC)

Lifted

8:04 PM EDT (00:04 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$43,000

Crop damage

$5,000

County

Shelby County

Touchdown point

39.484, -85.736

Lift-off point

39.455, -85.707

Record number

2107291758-01

9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IND, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 104 mph.

• Splattered on west side. Pilars moved off foundation
• Glass table blown but not broken
• 2 sections of brick wall knocked over. Possibly hit by boat

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

A very warm and humid air mass combined with a slowly-approaching west-to-east cold front to initiate scattered evening thunderstorms. Severe weather occurred in the most favorable environment, to the southeast of Indianapolis, wherein 3000-4000 MLCAPE, 125-175 0-3 km MLCAPE, and 100-200 effective storm relative helicity combined to form an intense, nearly-stationary QLCS. Two EF-1 tornadoes, spawned from the QLCS, occurred within a small area where 50-100 0-1 km storm relative helicity overlapped with 100 mb LCL values under 750 meters. The event's maximum precipitable water axis of 2.0-2.1 inches, west to east across southern Indiana, coincided with the 2-7 inch rainfall reports under the QLCS.

Damage from this event began as a strong rear flank downdraft ripped the roof off a building in the southeast part of Shelbyville. Witnesses reported a funnel cloud nearby but damage was consistent with straight line winds. Witnesses reported that the funnel cloud continued southeast until it became a tornado northwest of a small subdivision off of CR 250 E. There it damaged numerous trees and damaged support beams on a porch. A masonry wall was also knocked down. The tornado continued to the southeast where it caused tree damage to a home on County Road 350 South. The most extensive tree damage would occur along County Road 375 East near County Road 500 South where two homes had widespread tree damage along with an antenna pole that was snapped. The tornado then lifted in a field to the southeast. Damage was not continuous along the tornado path, indicating the tornado did lift briefly at times.

The second tornado of the day was short lived. The tornado initially began near a river cabin and caused a narrow but intense swath of tree damage along County Road 500 East. The tornado then crossed the Flatrock River where it impacted the Van Pelt cemetery. Several grave stones were knocked over by the tornado with additional tree damage on the property. The tornado may have briefly lifted before occurring again in a field to the south then dissipating.

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 19:53 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 Indianapolis radar (KIND), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:53 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 2021 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

36 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.