Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2021

EF1 tornado, Alford, Indiana, June 8, 2021

This EF1 tornado ran 2.5 miles across Pike County on June 8, 2021, touching down at 7:12 PM EDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3,000 of property damage.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 8, 2021
Touchdown
7:12 PM EDT (23:12 UTC)
Lifted
7:18 PM EDT (23:18 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
2.5 miles (4.0 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$3,000
County
Pike County
Touchdown point
38.473, -87.259
Lift-off point
38.498, -87.227
Record number
2106081712-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A few small tornadoes occurred in association with a closed 500 mb low over Missouri. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms developed during the heat of the day in deep southwest flow ahead of the closed low.

A carport was damaged in Alford. Metal debris was on the roadway near the intersection of Highway 356 and Interstate 69 and near mile marker 50 on Interstate 69. Power lines were down near Highway 356 and County Road 475 North. The tornado was confirmed by trained spotters. Peak winds were estimated near 90 mph.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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), 12:00Z

11.2 hours before the tornado, 219 km from the path. June 8, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2021-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 96 joules per kilogram, CIN -93, lifted condensation level 1002 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2021-06-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 3 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
96 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1002 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 219 km from the path. June 9, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2021-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 79 joules per kilogram, CIN -56, lifted condensation level 1265 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2021-06-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
79 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-56 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1437 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1265 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:11 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:25 UTCTORNADOPatokaGibson, IN*** 1 INJ *** BARN ROOF AND SIDE WALLS TORN OFF AND PART OF A RESIDENCE DAMAGED. ONE MALE WAS INJURED BY DEBRIS LOFTED WHILE OCCUPYING BUILDING. SEVERAL TREES DAMAGED ALONG PATH WITH CROP DAMAGE TO BEAN FIELD. EF-0 TORNA
23:15 UTCTORNADO2 E PetersburgPike, INDAMAGE TO CARPORT IN ALFORD. METAL DEBRIS NOTED ON ROADWAY NEAR INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 356 AND INTERSTATE 69 AND NEAR MILE MARKER 50 ON INTERSTATE 69. POWER LINES DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY 356 AND COUNTY ROAD 475 NORTH. DAMAGE
23:15 UTCTORNADO2 E PetersburgPike, INOBSERVED TORNADO NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF INTERSTATE 69 AND HIGHWAY 356 NEAR ALFORD.

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 8, 2021

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 89:11 AM CDTEF0Smith, TX1.640$5,000
June 810:02 AM CDTEF0Cherokee, TX0.320$1,000
June 810:23 AM CDTEF0Cherokee, TX0.120$5,000
June 81:42 PM CDTEF0Spencer, IN0.115
June 82:26 PM CDTEF0Lee, MS0.550$5,000
June 82:28 PM CDTEF0Lee, MS0.450$50,000
June 82:42 PM CDTEF0Lee, MS0.450$10,000
June 85:25 PM CDTEF0Gibson, IN1.3601$20,000
June 86:18 PM MDTEF0Corson, SD0.210

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.