Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2026

EF1 tornado, Pike County, Indiana, August 12, 2026

This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Pike County on August 12, 2026, touching down at 4:09 PM EDT and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS PAH's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Winslow, IN. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.

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 survey

Rating, as surveyed
EF1, preliminary
Date
August 12, 2026
Touchdown
4:09 PM EDT (20:09 UTC)
Lifted
4:10 PM EDT (20:10 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pike County
Touchdown point
38.389, -87.219
Lift-off point
38.378, -87.208
Highest wind the damage implies
110 mph
Surveyed by
NWS PAH
The office's name for it
Winslow, IN
Survey last edited
August 14, 2026
Record number
None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

What the survey found

An EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 110 mph struck Winslow, Indiana, on the afternoon of August 12, 2026. The tornado began in a neighborhood just west of the intersection of Highway 61 and Brenton Street. Moving southeast, the tornado severely damaged a few manufactured homes and outbuildings, uprooted or snapped dozens of trees, and damaged the roofs, gutters, and fascia of several homes in Winslow. At least one family was displaced when a large tree fell into their home, causing it to become inhabitable. The tornado lifted near Beardsley Street on the southeast side of Winslow. The tornado occurred from 4:09 to 4:10 PM EDT and had a peak width of 250 yards.

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

The damage survey

38 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 110 mph.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:24 UTC and running to 22:11 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:24 UTC22:11 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchPAH
19:51 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
20:15 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningPAH
20:30 UTC20:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

8.2 hours before the tornado, 230 km from the path. August 12, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2026-08-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2166 joules per kilogram, CIN -186, lifted condensation level 1652 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2026-08-12The 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 50 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
2166 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-186 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2407 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

3.8 hours after it, 230 km from the path. August 13, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2026-08-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 366 joules per kilogram, CIN -161, lifted condensation level 928 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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2026-08-13The 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 191 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 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
366 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-161 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1576 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
928 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
191 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
9.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Huntingburg (HNB), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:10 UTC150° 7 kt1012.9
18:15 UTC170° 10 kt1012.9
18:20 UTC160° 7 kt1012.9
18:25 UTC170° 8 kt1012.9
18:30 UTC150° 8 kt1012.9
18:35 UTC140° 9 kt1012.5
18:40 UTC150° 8 kt1012.5
18:45 UTC160° 9 kt1012.9
18:50 UTC150° 8 kt1012.9
18:55 UTC140° 7 kt1013.2
18:56 UTC8478150° 7 kt1013.2
19:00 UTC140° 8 kt1012.9
19:05 UTC150° 7 kt1012.5
19:10 UTC150° 6 kt1012.5
19:15 UTC150° 8 kt1012.5
19:20 UTC160° 7 kt1012.5
19:25 UTC150° 8 kt1012.9
19:30 UTC160° 7 kt1012.9
19:35 UTC160° 8 kt1012.5
19:40 UTC150° 6 kt1012.5
19:45 UTC140° 9 kt1012.2-RA
19:50 UTC130° 7 kt1013.2-RA
19:55 UTC130° 6 kt1012.5-RA
19:56 UTC8680140° 7 kt1012.2-RA
20:00 UTC140° 7 kt1012.2-RA
20:05 UTC70° 5 kt1013.2-RA
20:10 UTC110° 7 kt1011.9-RA
20:11 UTC84.280.6110° 7 kt1011.9-TSRA
20:15 UTC90° 3 kt1012.5RA
20:20 UTC100° 5 kt1011.9RA
20:25 UTC60° 5 kt1012.5+RA
20:30 UTC40° 8 kt1012.5+RA
20:35 UTC40° 11 kt1011.9+RA
20:40 UTC 1011.5+RA
20:45 UTC 1012.5+RA BR
20:46 UTC80.680.610° 19 kt271013.2+TSRA
20:50 UTC 371013.9+RA BR
20:51 UTC777730° 19 kt371013.5+TSRA BR
20:56 UTC7472310° 8 kt371014.2+TSRA BR
21:00 UTC140° 4 kt1013.2+RA BR
21:03 UTC73.473.4150° 5 kt151013.2+TSRA BR
21:05 UTC170° 6 kt1013.2+RA BR
21:10 UTC170° 8 kt1012.5+RA BR
21:11 UTC73.473.4180° 8 kt1012.5+TSRA BR
21:15 UTC170° 8 kt1012.9RA
21:18 UTC71.671.6150° 9 kt1012.9TSRA
21:20 UTC150° 8 kt1012.9RA
21:25 UTC140° 6 kt1012.5-RA
21:30 UTC170° 5 kt1012.5-RA
21:35 UTC180° 6 kt1012.5-RA
21:40 UTC140° 6 kt1012.5-RA
21:45 UTC90° 6 kt1012.2RA
21:50 UTC80° 5 kt1012.2-RA
21:55 UTC110° 6 kt1012.2-RA
21:56 UTC7373110° 6 kt1012.2
22:00 UTC110° 5 kt1012.5
22:05 UTC100° 4 kt1012.9

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:09 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
19:03 UTCTORNADO3 Nnw BrucevilleKnox, INA brief EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 100 mph impacted several groves of trees and an outbuilding. There were multiple videos of the tornado and drone footage showed many trees snapped along the path.
19:03 UTCTORNADO3 Nnw BrucevilleKnox, INA brief EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 100 mph impacted several groves of trees and an outbuilding. There were multiple videos of the tornado and drone footage showed many trees snapped along the path.
19:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw BrucevilleKnox, INPossible tornado. Debris in the air and trees blown down.
19:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw BrucevilleKnox, INPossible tornado. Debris in the air and trees blown down.
19:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw BrucevilleKnox, INPossible tornado. Debris in the air and trees blown down.
20:00 UTCRAIN 1.04BicknellKnox, INMesonet station AV565 Bicknell.
20:09 UTCTORNADO1 Nw WinslowPike, INAn EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 110 mph struck Winslow, Indiana, on the afternoon of August 12, 2026. The tornado began in a neighborhood just west of the intersection of Highway 61 and Brenton Street. Moving southeas
20:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGWinslowPike, INSeveral trees uprooted, branches down and some structure damage to a home and barn.
21:37 UTCHAIL 13 Nnw Melody HillVanderburgh, IN
22:00 UTCRAIN 1.31 W WashingtonDaviess, INCO-OP Observer station WASI3 1.4 W Washington.
22:00 UTCRAIN 1.31 W WashingtonDaviess, INCO-OP Observer station WASI3 1.4 W Washington.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 12, 2026

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

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 1210:49 AM CDTUnratedJasper, IN0.450
August 123:03 PM EDTEF1Knox, IN1.5150

What this means

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.

Sources

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.