Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2021
EF0 tornado, Babcock to Woodville, Indiana, June 20, 2021
From Babcock to Woodville, this EF0 tornado ran 3.3 miles across Porter County on June 20, 2021, touching down at 12:11 AM CDT and reaching 150 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- June 20, 2021
- Touchdown
- 12:11 AM CDT (05:11 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:16 AM CDT (05:16 UTC)
- On the ground
- 5 minutes
- Path length
- 3.3 miles (5.3 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Porter County
- Touchdown point
- 41.562, -87.124
- Lift-off point
- 41.572, -87.063
- Record number
- 2106202311-01
The damage survey
19 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LOT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.
- Report of a small outbuilding destroyed at the Robbinhurst GC.
- All damage felled towards the east and northeast
- Several houses exhibiting shingle loss. Sporadic tree damage.
- Large tree uprooted just east of the Robbinhurst Driving Range
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
A line of severe thunderstorms moved across northwest Indiana during the late evening of June 20th and the early morning of June 21st producing wind damage and one tornado.
A tornado with peak winds of 75 mph touched down just east of north State Road 149 and north of Robbins Road where a large tree was uprooted and several houses exhibited minor shingle loss. Sporadic tree damage occurred along the path of this tornado until it lifted east of Meridian Road and north of East County Road 950.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
11 minutes of warning. NWS LOT issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:00 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:34 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:40 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:40 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LOT |
| 04:41 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 05:00 UTC | 05:34 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 05:06 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT |
| 05:15 UTC | 05:35 UTC | Tornado Warning | LOT |
| 12:00 UTC | 08:20 UTC | Beach Hazard Statement | LOT |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:25 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
5.2 hours before the tornado, 202 km from the path. June 21, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1632 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -62 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3360 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1351 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 159 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 421 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 13.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.0 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
6.8 hours after it, 202 km from the path. June 21, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -84418 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 880 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -95 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.7 K/km
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:09 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:04 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cedar Lake | Lake, IN | TWO TREES DOWNED ONTO HOUSES IN CEDAR LAKE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Hobart | Lake, IN | PUBLIC REPORT OF TREE DAMAGE IN HOBART. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:07 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ne Lake Station | Porter, IN | SEVERAL TREES UPROOTED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:07 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sse Lake Station | Porter, IN | TREE DAMAGE IN CAMELOT ESTATES IN PORTAGE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Sw Portage | Porter, IN | NUMEROUS POWER LINES DOWNED IN PORTAGE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | South Haven | Porter, IN | DOWNED TREE CAUSED STRUCTURE DAMAGE ON EAGLE CREEK ROAD IN SOUTH HAVEN. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:11 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N South Haven | Porter, IN | CONSIDERABLE TREE DAMAGE DIRECTED IN AN EASTERLY DIRECTION ALONG LUTE ROAD, EAST TOWARDS THE ROBBINHURST GOLF CLUB. A SMALL OUTBUILDING WAS DAMAGED ON THE GOLF COURSE. |
| 05:11 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nne South Haven | Porter, IN | AN NWS SURVEY, ALONG WITH INFORMATION RELAYED BY THE PORTER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, INDICATE A SWATH OF STRAIGHT-LINE WIND DAMAGE EXTENDING FROM HOBART TO THE ROBBINHURST GOLF CLUB JUST NORTH OF SOUTH HAVEN. |
| 05:17 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ese Chesterton | Porter, IN | SPORADIC TREE DAMAGE NEAR AND NORTH OF THE INDIANA TOLL ROAD AND EAST OF STATE ROAD 49 SOUTHEAST OF CHESTERTON. |
| 05:18 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Valparaiso | Porter, IN | PUBLIC REPORT OF TREE DAMAGE IN VALPARAISO. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 05:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Se Waterford | La Porte, IN | LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWNED. DELAYED REPORT. ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 05:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | La Porte | La Porte, IN | SEVERAL REPORTS OF TREES DOWNED ACROSS THE COUNTY. |
| 05:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 47 | 3 Wsw Waterford | La Porte, IN | MESONET STATION IN002 2.7 W WATERFORD (INDOT). |
| 05:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ese Walkerton | Marshall, IN | DELAYED REPORT - WIDESPREAD TREE DAMAGE - TREE LINE WEST OF PROPERTY HAS BEEN FLATTENED WITH ALMOST ALL TREES UPROOTED AND SOME SNAPPED OFF. |
| 05:55 UTC | TSTM WND GST 39 | 3 Ssw La Porte | La Porte, IN | AWOS STATION KPPO LA PORTE. |
| 05:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Teegarden | Marshall, IN | SPOTTY TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE ACROSS NORTHERN MARSHALL COUNTY. US 6 IS CLOSED IN SPOTS WITH DEBRIS ON THE ROAD. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 20, 2021
7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 20 | 3:07 PM EDT | EF0 | Chowan, NC | 3.0 | 75 | $25,000 | ||
| June 20 | 6:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Marion, IA | 1.5 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| June 20 | 8:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Dubuque, IA | 3.4 | 30 | |||
| June 20 | 9:23 PM EDT | EF1 | Lenawee, MI | 2.7 | 125 | $250,000 | ||
| June 20 | 10:54 PM CDT | EF0 | DuPage, IL | 0.4 | 75 | |||
| June 20 | 11:02 PM CDT | EF3 | Naperville–Woodridge tornado, IL | 17.6 | 600 | 11 | ||
| June 20 | 11:08 PM CDT | EF0 | Will, IL | 4.8 | 200 |
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.