Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2024

EF1 tornado, Paradise, Indiana, May 14, 2024

This EF1 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Warrick County on May 14, 2024, touching down at 5:14 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 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
May 14, 2024
Touchdown
5:14 PM CDT (22:14 UTC)
Lifted
5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$25,000
County
Warrick County
Touchdown point
37.959, -87.385
Lift-off point
37.964, -87.385
Record number
2405141614-01

The damage survey

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.

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

Surface low pressure was drifting across the Quad State on the 14th. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the afternoon to evening with Southwest Indiana seeing storms drift slowly northeastward. CAPE values around 1000 J/kg dropped off after sunset. Lapse rates were around 6.5 C/km, and shear was limited to around 25 kts. Despite also producing cold air funnels, one storm produced a brief EF-1 tornado on the northeast side of Newburgh. Torrential rainfall of 3-5.5 inches fell in Warrick County, producing widespread flash flooding for the late afternoon and evening hours.

A brief EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 94 mph struck the northeast side of Newburgh, IN. The great majority of the damage was from uprooted trees and downed large tree limbs in a south to north path between Marywood Drive and Oakdale Drive. A couple homes also had fascia and gutter damage. NWS Paducah would like to thank the Warrick County Emergency Management Agency for surveying the damage path.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:49 UTC00:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryPAH
23:17 UTC02:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningPAH

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:50 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 215 km from the path. May 14, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2024-05-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 25 joules per kilogram, CIN -177, lifted condensation level 714 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2024-05-14The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
25 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-177 J/kg
Surface CAPE
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
714 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 215 km from the path. May 15, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2024-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -33871, lifted condensation level 826 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2024-05-15The 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 -4 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33871 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1532 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:13 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:13 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ne NewburghWarrick, INSeveral large tree limbs down at Sharon Road and Kenwood Drive. Time estimated from radar.
22:14 UTCTORNADO1 Ne NewburghWarrick, INA brief EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 94 mph struck the northeast side of Newburgh, IN. The great majority of the damage was from uprooted trees and downed large tree limbs in a south to north path between Ma
22:28 UTCTSTM WND GST 511 Nne NewburghWarrick, IN
23:20 UTCFLOOD2 Nw NewburghWarrick, INRoadway flooding occurred near Grimm Road and Willow Pond Road.
23:20 UTCFLOOD3 Ssw ChandlerWarrick, INFlooding occurred on Coal Mine Road near Telephone Road.
23:20 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nw NewburghWarrick, INRoadway flooding occurred near Grimm Road and Willow Pond Road.
23:20 UTCFLASH FLOOD3 Ssw ChandlerWarrick, INRoadway flooding occurred on Coal Mine Road near Telephone Road.
00:39 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 N NewburghWarrick, INWater rising into neighborhoods, businesses and farmland along SR 66.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 14, 2024

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 144:39 PM EDTEF0Marlboro, SC1.6150$2,000
May 144:16 PM CDTEF0Lawrence, TN3.6100$250,000
May 143:40 PM MDTUnratedKit Carson, CO0.315
May 145:52 PM EDTEF0Robeson, NC0.130
May 146:00 PM EDTEF0Robeson, NC5.240$10,000
May 146:06 PM EDTEF0Robeson, NC0.2150$5,000
May 146:10 PM EDTEF1Marion, SC2.080$200,000
May 147:52 PM EDTEF0Columbus, NC2.240$20,000
May 148:03 PM EDTEF0Columbus, NC6.040$4,000

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.