EF3 tornado, Stinesville to Fleener, Indiana, June 17, 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 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3, preliminary

Date

June 17, 2026

Touchdown

9:44 PM EDT (01:44 UTC)

Lifted

10:07 PM EDT (02:07 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

18.5 miles (29.8 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Counties

Owen and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

39.317, -86.743

Lift-off point

39.331, -86.399

Highest wind the damage implies

140 mph

Surveyed by

NWS IND

The office's name for it

OwenMonroeTornado

Survey last edited

June 26, 2026

Record number

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

A thunderstorm that had been showing supercell characteristics

across portions of west central Indiana moved east over Owen

County. Rotation was observed but no reports had occurred across

much of western Owen County. Then shortly after 9:40 pm the

rotation began to strengthen as it approached US 231. Tornado

touched down just east of US 231 where sporadic tree damage was

noted with some larger limbs knocked down and a few upper trunks

of trees snapped. The tornado crossed the White River and

continued to strengthen. Numerous trees were uprooted and/or large

trunks of trees snapped along Macville Road in Owen County. Some

of the trees fell on a house on Macville Road. All of this damage

was consistent with an EF1 tornado.

The tornado continued east into Monroe county with numerous tree

damage along County Line Road. Further east along N Texas Ridge

Road the roof of a single story was removed and blown out into a

field along with two garages that were completely destroyed. The

amount of tree damage increased further to the east with damage

along Moon Road and Brighton Road. Two houses along Brighton Road

had portions of the roof panels removed. A metal garage in the

same area had a quarter of the roof pulled back. All of this

damage remained consistent with an EF1 tornado. The tornado

strengthened further as it approached Bowman Road, where a house

with a large attached barn/garage was damaged. The garage was

completely destroyed and large portions of the roof were removed

on the house. This damage was estimated to be primarily EF2

strength.

Additional damage to houses and outbuildings was found along

Mount Pleasant Road with an increasing amount of tree damage. Some

of the most widespread and strongest tree damage was found

further to the east along Buskirk Road. Large swaths of trees were

either snapped or uprooted. In addition, some debarking of trees

was noted as well. A mobile home along Buskirk Road was completely

destroyed with all debris being blown to the east. This damage is

consistent with a higher end EF2 tornado. The tornado continued

eastwards over Interstate 69 where continued widespread tree

damage was observed. Further analysis using drone footage indicated additional debarking of hardwood trees near and east of I-69, consistent with EF3 damage. Initially, we had to end the survey at the entrance of

the Morgan Monroe State Forest at the interaction of Old State

Road 37 and Forest Road where the amount of tree damage prevented

the survey team from going any further. However, satellite analysis later on was able to find tree damage all the wat to the Monroe County border.

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

46 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IND, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 140 mph.

• Approximate end point based on satellite data.
• No debarking noted, swath of snapped trees with nearby structures mostly undamaged.
• Drone footage, nearby structures barely damaged.
• Widespread snapped trees along the road.

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

During the 17th evening into the 18th early morning, a strong upper-level disturbance interacted with a warm, moist, and unstable airmass across central and southern Indiana. Strong vertical wind shear and moderate atmospheric instability supported the rapid development of supercells and bowing linear segments capable of producing tornadoes, damaging straight-line winds, and torrential rainfall.||Severe weather initiated in western Indiana around 7:40 PM EST on June 17 and tracked southeastward across the state through 1:25 AM EST on June 18. Four tornadoes touched down during the outbreak, highlighted by a strong EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph that tracked over 18 miles across Owen and Monroe counties, causing severe structural damage to residential properties and widespread tree damage. Three additional EF-1 tornadoes, with peak winds ranging between 95 mph and 110 mph, caused localized structural and timber damage across Vigo, Clay, Brown, and Jackson counties.||In addition to tornadoes, widespread straight-line wind gusts between 58 mph and 70 mph caused scattered tree and power line damage across broad portions of central and southern Indiana, resulting in temporary road blockages and localized power outages. Intense rainfall rates accompanying the initial severe thunderstorms also produced localized flash flooding in Vigo County, leading to multiple road closures in and around Terre Haute. This severe weather event would be the fifth of many for the month which would eventually define a formal disaster period from June 6th to the 18th which was declared by the governor of Indiana.

An EF-3 tornado with path length of at 18.49 miles and maximum width of 880 yards moved through much of Monroe county after exiting Owen county.. The peak winds were 140 mph. Drone footage showed a widespread path through mostly forested area with several areas of widespread debarking of the trees. The tornado impacted and destroyed several homes along Bowman and Mount Pleasant Road with the most intense damage along Buskirk road. The tornado crossed Interstate 69 and continued further into forested areas of Morgan Monroe forest.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

35 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:09 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:38 UTC and running to 05:57 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:10 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.

Bloomington (BMG), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:43 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

27 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.