EF2 tornado, Maplewood Park to Cuba, Indiana, March 31, 2023

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

March 31, 2023

Touchdown

11:36 PM EDT (03:36 UTC)

Lifted

11:43 PM EDT (03:43 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

7.9 miles (12.6 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Allen County

Touchdown point

41.109, -85.029

Lift-off point

41.184, -84.919

Record number

2303312136-01

54 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Extensive damage to softwood trees. Many snapped and uprooted trees across Maysville Road. Minor damage to a home with shingles blown off and windows broken on the south side.
• Picture direction north. Lots of trees snapped and uprooted.
• Damage direction north. Large trees uprooted onto a home on Cardinal Lane. Strong convergence seen in tree damage in this neighborhood. Minor roof and siding damage to homes here.
• Picture direction south. Multiple homes with siding and shingle damage. Some trees snapped.

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

Thunderstorms developing in the evening of March 31 resulted in multiple weather hazards. Hail nearly 2 inches in diameter was observed, trees were downed from thunderstorm wind, and flooding occurred from heavy rain rates. In the days that followed, storm damage surveys teams confirmed multiple tornadoes has moved through.

Tornado developed over the northeast side of Fort Wayne and raced|northeast toward the town of Harlan. Many homes and farms had|minor to major damage. Extensive tree and powerline damage|occurred as well especially along and south of IN 37 where the most |significant damage was observed.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:31 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:22 UTC and running to 04:36 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:04 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.

Auburn (GWB), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:34 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 2023 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

126 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 127 of them

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.