Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2022
EF0 tornado, Taggart, Indiana, May 21, 2022
This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Brown County on May 21, 2022, touching down at 3:40 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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.
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
- May 21, 2022
- Touchdown
- 3:40 PM EDT (19:40 UTC)
- Lifted
- 3:42 PM EDT (19:42 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $30,000
- County
- Brown County
- Touchdown point
- 39.279, -86.136
- Lift-off point
- 39.280, -86.130
- Record number
- 2205211340-01
The damage survey
14 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 100 mph.
- Steeple blown over, roofing lofted northeast. Trailer and dumpsters in parking lot pulled north.
- Down trees convergent SE/NE. Possible starting point
- Centerline; trees broken some uprooted clear convergence pattern
- Limited DIs with center pivot irrigation line rolled due north, single tree lying to east. This likely inflow into tornado path just to north based on additional damage found to west with new starting point.
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 warm and rather humid air mass across central Indiana, combined with an approaching cold front in the afternoon to produce a line of strong to severe thunderstorms. Wind damage was focused over the region's south-central counties; the line also spawned two brief EF0 tornadoes before a longer track EF1 lifted and touched down several times across southern Shelby County. A forth and final EF1 tornado tracked briefly over far southwestern Shelby County.
The first tornado to impact central Indiana on May 21st, an EF0 tornado, downed numerous trees in a convergent pattern through a densely wooded area. Peak winds estimated at 84 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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:53 UTC and running to 20:40 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:53 UTC | 20:40 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | IND |
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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 15:46 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 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.
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z
7.7 hours before the tornado, 201 km from the path. May 21, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 808 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -174 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 785 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1154 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 152 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 147 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z
4.3 hours after it, 201 km from the path. May 22, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -75777 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 247 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1504 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -74 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -72 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
The surface observations
Columbus/Balkala (BAK), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:55 UTC | 80.6 | 68 | 210° 14 kt | 20 | 1015.6 | |
| 18:55 UTC | 82.4 | 68 | 220° 14 kt | 25 | 1014.6 | |
| 19:55 UTC | 80.6 | 71.6 | 230° 15 kt | 1015.6 | ||
| 20:05 UTC | 69.8 | 62.6 | 300° 38 kt | 62 | 1016.9 | RA BR |
| 20:17 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 280° 22 kt | 32 | 1016.6 | BR |
| 20:30 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 360° 12 kt | 1016.3 | ||
| 20:45 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 350° 8 kt | 15 | 1016.3 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:42 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:55 UTC | HAIL 0.7 | Mccormicks Creek State | Owen, IN | |
| 19:03 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ellettsville | Monroe, IN | LARGE TREES AND POWER LINE DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Gosport | Owen, IN | LARGE TREES DOWN REPORT VIA TWITTER WITH VIDEO. TREES KNOCKED POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 19:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Indiana University | Monroe, IN | REPORT FROM MPING: 1-INCH TREE LIMBS BROKEN; SHINGLES BLOWN OFF. |
| 19:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Smithville | Monroe, IN | RECEIVED A REPORT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OF TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ON FAIRFAX AND STRAIN RIDGE RD SOUTH OF SMITHVILLE, IN. |
| 19:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Harrodsburg | Lawrence, IN | BUILDINGS DAMAGED. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:29 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Wsw Woodville Hills | Monroe, IN | REPORT FROM MPING: 3-INCH TREE LIMBS BROKEN; POWER POLES BROKEN. |
| 19:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 W Martinsville | Morgan, IN | LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN. PUBLIC REPORTS HIGH WIND. |
| 19:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wnw Martinsville | Morgan, IN | TREE FELL ON HOUSE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Se Peoga | Brown, IN | LARGE AREA OF TREES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:41 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Peoga | Brown, IN | DELAYED REPORT. NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND NUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN A CONVERGENT PATTERN THROUGH A DENSE WOODED AREA. MAX ESTIMATED WIND SPEED WAS 84 MPH. |
| 19:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 W Edinburgh | Johnson, IN | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO STEEPLE ON CHAPEL BUILDING AND ROOF SHINGLES OFF. |
| 19:48 UTC | TORNADO | 3 W Edinburgh | Johnson, IN | DELAYED REPORT. NWS SURVEY FOUND WEAK TORNADO DAMAGE AT CAMP ATTERBURY. THE STEEPLE AT A CHURCH WAS BLOWN OVER WITH DAMAGE TO NEARBY VEHICLES. MAX WIND SPEED WAS ESTIMATED AT 84 MPH. |
| 19:52 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Edinburgh | Johnson, IN | PUBLIC ESTIMATES 65 MPH WIND. |
| 19:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ene Edinburgh | Shelby, IN | LARGE TREE LIMBS ON HOUSE. REPORT VIA TWITTER. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Clifford | Bartholomew, IN | TREES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:55 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 67 | 2 Sw Clifford | Bartholomew, IN | AWOS STATION KBAK COLUMBUS BALKALA. |
| 19:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Clifford | Bartholomew, IN | LARGE TREE LIMB DOWN. WIND ESTIMATION NEAR 80 MPH. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sse Edinburgh | Bartholomew, IN | NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS DOWN IN THE AREA, HIGHWAY SIGN FOLDED OVER. REPORT VIA TWITTER. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Columbus | Bartholomew, IN | RECEIVED MULTIPLE PICTURES VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OF LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN ON NE SIDE OF COLUMBUS. |
| 19:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Edinburgh | Johnson, IN | PICTURE SENT TO US VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OF A LARGE TREE DOWN BLOCKING A ROAD IN EDINBURGH. |
| 20:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ssw Marietta | Shelby, IN | MULTIPLE TREES DOWN. |
| 20:00 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Marietta | Shelby, IN | DELAYED REPORT. NWS SURVEY FOUND SPORADIC EF1 TORNADO DAMAGE ALONG A 13.8 MILE TRACK THROUGH SOUTHERN SHELBY COUNTY. THE TORNADO SKIPPED SEVERAL TIMES WITH WIDESPREAD TREE DAMAGE ALONG THE PATH. MAX WIND SPEEDS ESTIMATED |
| 20:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Saint Paul | Decatur, IN | WIDESPREAD MULTIPLE TREES DOWN. SOME ON HOMES. ESTIMATED WIND GUST OF 80+MPH. TIME IS ESTIMATED. |
| 20:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 71 | 2 Sw Clifford | Bartholomew, IN | DELAYED REPORT. AWOS STATION KBAK COLUMBUS BAKALAR. |
| 20:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Saint Paul | Decatur, IN | WIDE SPREAD TREE DAMAGE REPORTED; FRONT OF A ROOF PEELED OFF ON OLD ST RTE 421; LARGE TREES BLOCKING ROADS INNUMEROUS AREA. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 20:11 UTC | TSTM WND GST 58 | 3 Sse Bloomington | Monroe, IN | WINDS AT MONROE LAKE 58 MPH GUST, ALSO HEAVY RAIN WITH TREE DAMAGE. |
| 20:13 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Se Waldron | Shelby, IN | NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS DOWN, SOME LARGE, ACROSS AREA. |
| 20:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 2 N Saint Paul | Shelby, IN | SPOTTER ESTIMATES 65 MPH WINDS. |
| 20:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Adams | Decatur, IN | LARGE TREES DOWN. ESTIMATED WIND GUST OF 75+ MPH. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 21, 2022
6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21 | 2:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Newton, AR | 1.0 | 100 | |||
| May 21 | 3:48 PM EDT | EF0 | Johnson, IN | 0.1 | 25 | $40,000 | ||
| May 21 | 3:57 PM EDT | EF1 | Shelby, IN | 14.6 | 100 | $150,000 | ||
| May 21 | 3:58 PM EDT | EF1 | Shelby, IN | 0.2 | 25 | $20,000 | ||
| May 21 | 7:00 PM CDT | Unrated | Garland, AR | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 21 | 12:12 AM CDT | EF1 | Caddo Parish, LA | 1.6 | 200 | $50,000 |
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.