EF1 tornado, Lake Cicott to Royal Center, 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 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 31, 2023

Touchdown

10:13 PM EDT (02:13 UTC)

Lifted

10:16 PM EDT (02:16 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.7 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cass County

Touchdown point

40.815, -86.557

Lift-off point

40.829, -86.531

Record number

2303312013-01

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.

An NWS Storm Survey confirmed a tornado touched down in an open|field south of W CR 400 N, between N CR 1000W and 925W. It|tracked quickly northeast, flipping 8 spans of a center pivot|irrigation system once, the destroyed 2 large pole barns at a|residence near 400 N and 925W. Several trees were snapped and|corn fodder from the field was pulled into the yard and extended|northeast form there. The back garage portion of a home was|damaged. Power poles were also snapped in the area. The tornado|made a turn to the right some and began to weaken, striking a|home at the intersection of W CR 400 N and N CR 900 N where the|roof on the SW side of the home was lifted, several small er|trees were uprooted and a fuel tank was rolled into the field to|the NE. Debris was carried for a few more miles to the northeast.|The track of the tornado may have continued further northeast but|it weakened significantly after the noted damage areas. Max width|300 yards with max wind wind speed estimated at 100 mph.

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

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 tornado watch, issued at 00:00 UTC and running to 03:12 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 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.

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:13 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.