EF1 tornado, Becks Mill to Salem, Indiana, March 18, 2022

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

March 18, 2022

Touchdown

8:06 PM EDT (00:06 UTC)

Lifted

8:14 PM EDT (00:14 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

5.5 miles (8.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Washington County

Touchdown point

38.556, -86.178

Lift-off point

38.606, -86.101

Record number

2203181806-01

26 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LMK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

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

A cold front associated with a larger low pressure system move east through the Lower Ohio Valley on the evening of the 18th. This caused thunderstorms to move over southern Indiana and north central Kentucky, resulting in multiple reports of severe wind damage and five tornadoes across the area.

The tornado was observed touching down by two eyewitnesses near West Wilson Lane and Dog Trot Road at 8:06 PM EDT. Multiple hardwood trees were uprooted and a house suffered significant roof damage on West Wilson Lane. A barn suffered significant roof damage and two other outbuildings had minor damage. On the same property, a carport was lifted and thrown several hundred feet downstream. Debris from this property was also found on a farm approximately half a mile to the east.||The most intense damage occurred near the intersection of Mill Creek Road and Fort Hill Road. A well-constructed brick home had only minor damage to siding, shingles, and porch columns, but multiple trees were uprooted both northwest and northeast of the house. Just down the hill to the northeast, dozens of trees were uprooted or snapped, all laying nearly due north at an angle to the tornado`s northeastward motion. Maximum wind speeds at this point were estimated at 105 mph (EF-1), and the maximum path width at 200 yards.||The tornado continued northeast across open fields and then uprooted or snapped several trees, and caused minor shingle damage to two homes along Woodland Drive in the Naugle Addition subdivision. Two large hardwood trees were uprooted and other large branches were downed as the tornado continued northeast across Orchard Road.||As the tornado moved into the city of Salem a large tree was uprooted and another tree lost a large branch at Crown Hill Cemetery. The tornado continued into the Public Square, where it caused roof and exterior damage to two businesses located to the northwest of the Court House. The tornado lifted at 8:14 PM EDT just to the north of the square.||No fatalities or injuries were reported as a result of the tornado. All the residents our survey team spoke with had received the Tornado Warnings via some combination of Wireless Emergency Alerts, local TV broadcasts, or NOAA Weather Radio, and quickly sought shelter. Most of them took shelter in basements. Of those without a basement, one family took shelter in an interior bathroom, while another resident sought shelter with a neighbor whose house has a basement.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS LMK issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:44 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 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 19:27 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 Louisville radar (KLVX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:06 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 2022 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.