EF1 tornado, Dearborn and Franklin counties, Indiana, August 1, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

August 1, 2026

Touchdown

6:32 PM EDT (22:32 UTC)

Lifted

6:43 PM EDT (22:43 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

5.2 miles (8.4 km)

Path width

90 yards (82 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Dearborn and Franklin counties

Touchdown point

39.277, -85.014

Lift-off point

39.344, -84.972

Highest wind the damage implies

90 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILN

The office's name for it

St. Leon IN

Survey last edited

August 4, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The National Weather Service has updated EF0 tornado during the early

evening of August 1, 2026 in Dearborn and Franklin counties in Indiana.

A concentrated area of damage in southeast Franklin County was updated

to 90 MPH or EF1 damage.

Damage was first observed just east of Lawrenceville, Indiana along

Batta Road, near the Batta and Legion Road intersection. Some

roof damage to farm buildings was observed, as well as a large farm

wagon overturned. The tornado appeared to cross over farm fields

where crops were flattened. The tornado then crossed Legion Road

where there were several large trees that were damaged or snapped.

Peak wind in this area was estimated to be near 70 MPH.

The tornado continued north-northeast and continued to produce

tree damage as well as garage door damage along Trackville Road just

north of Old Hickory Road. Peak wind in this area was estimated to

be between 70 and 75 MPH.

The tornado continued into southeast Franklin County, where it

strengthened slightly to produce roof damage to a single family home

as well as roof and wall damage to barns. Peak wind in this area

was estimated to be between 75 and 80 MPH.

The tornado continued north-northeast to properties just northwest of

the intersection of Saint Peters and Stone Roads. There was additional

roof damage to a single family home, as well as the destruction of

3 barns, as well as some snapped pine trees and hardwood tree damage.

It was in this area where the peak wind was updated to near 90

MPH or EF1 damage.

The tornado continued to move north-northeast along a narrow path through

southeast Franklin County, producing additional barn and tree damage along

Wewe Hill Road which was consistent with wind damage between 70 and 75 MPH.

The tornado is believed to have dissipated just north of where Wewe Hill

Road becomes West to East, about 2 miles southwest of Cedar Grove.

The National Weather Service would like to thank the emergency

management agencies in Dearborn and Franklin Counties for

their assistance in this damage survey.

Written by NWS ILN in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

27 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Brick home with portion of its roof lifted, damage to outdoor structures, trees.
• Damage to a barn and garage.
• Garage door blown in slightly. Already fixed at survey time.
• Large Farm Wagon overturned

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

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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 Cincinnati radar (KILN), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:30 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 2026 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

7 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.