EF1 tornado, Blaine to Portland, Indiana, September 22, 2024

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

September 22, 2024

Touchdown

7:45 PM EDT (23:45 UTC)

Lifted

7:51 PM EDT (23:51 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Jay County

Touchdown point

40.427, -85.027

Lift-off point

40.434, -84.977

Record number

2409221745-01

15 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Start of Portland tornado. Stubbing of hardwood treetops here.
• Trees uprooted and snapped southwest of Portland high school
• Portland high school suffered considerable roof damage
• Several hardwood trees snapped adjacent to high school

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

An EF1 tornado occurred late in the day on September 22nd. No lightning was detected from this very shallow shower, but debris was detected on doppler radar. A storm damage survey was completed the following day. An additional tornado was noted just upstream of the EF1's location.

Drone footage shows evidence of a short track tornado in a corn field just east of the Salamonie river south of CR W 75 before it dissipated. Given the lack of an defined DI, the tornado will be classified as an EFU.

A tornado developed near the intersection of W 75 S and Joan Dr and quickly gained|intensity as it tracked east-northeast, hitting the Portland High School which sustained considerable roof damage. Several homes nearby sustained roof damage along with considerable tree damage noted along the track of this tornado. As the tornado was dissipating it caused extensive roof damage to the second story portion of the American Legion. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be around 110 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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:46 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 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.

Portland (PLD), 2 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), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:46 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 2024 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.