EF1 tornado, Salem to Steele, Indiana, April 2, 2025

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

April 2, 2025

Touchdown

10:48 PM EDT (02:48 UTC)

Lifted

10:50 PM EDT (02:50 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Adams County

Touchdown point

40.688, -84.834

Lift-off point

40.694, -84.807

Record number

2504022048-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• Older structure. Splattering noted on east and north walls
• Half of barn roof lifted off
• Insulation splattering noted on east facing trailer
• West part of structure collapsed. Debris scattered very far east and northeast, including a grain silo

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

The atmosphere was primed for severe weather during the afternoon and evening hours of April 2nd. 0-1 km SRH values of 300 to 500 m2/s2, 60 to 70 kts of shear and MLCAPE of around 1000 J/KG set the stage for numerous thunderstorms. Damage reports were not as widespread, but those that occurred tended to be in swaths related to cold pools from bowing segments or tornadoes. Eight tornadoes (three in northern Indiana, one which crossed from Indiana into Lower Michigan, one in lower Michigan and three in northwestern Ohio). A total of five injuries were reported (three in NW Ohio and two in N Indiana).

One of two likely simultaneous, parallel moving tornadoes impacted far eastern Adams County on the evening of April 2nd. Damage assessments from Adams County Emergency Management along with an NWS ground survey found evidence consistent with an EF-1 tornado with max estimated wind speeds of 100-105 mph that moved along E 300 near Monroe, IN. Reports from a local provided evidence of several properties that had sustained roof damage were already repaired early in the day. Otherwise, partial destruction and total destruction of well-built pole barns provided the maximum intensity of this particular tornado. The tornado dissipated before it reached the Mercer county line.

The second of two likely simultaneous, parallel moving tornadoes impacted far eastern Adams County on the evening of April 2nd. Damage assessments from Adams County Emergency Management along with an NWS ground survey found evidence consistent with an EF-1 tornado with max estimated wind speeds of 90-95 mph that moved along E 400 S near Monroe, IN. The tornado began by damaging pole-barns and poultry farms before removing the roof off of a mobile home at the corner of S 600 E and E 400 S. It then took a slightly northern turn and impacted another older pole barn, tossing a grain silo up to 1/2mi away. The tornado impacted another farm, collapsing the westward extend of the structure and reaching max intensity here. The tornado dissipated before it reached the Mercer county line.

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 23:34 UTC and running to 03:00 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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.

Van Wert County (VNW), 26 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), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:48 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 2025 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

87 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 88 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.