EF0 tornado, Vera Cruz, Indiana, March 11, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0, preliminary

Date

March 11, 2026

Touchdown

7:35 AM EDT (11:35 UTC)

Lifted

7:38 AM EDT (11:38 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.2 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wells County

Touchdown point

40.689, -85.112

Lift-off point

40.710, -85.070

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS IWX

The office's name for it

Vera Cruz, IN

Survey last edited

March 13, 2026

Record number

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

A weak circulation touched down in an open field southwest of the intersection of CR S 600 E and E 350 S. The tornado moved northeast causing damage to a pole barn which lost its roof as well as had leaning walls. Debris impacted an adjacent pole barn with the pieces of metal being carried downstream into a yard just to the east of the above noted intersection. The circulation continued across mainly unplanted fields, but drone imagery indicated a narrow area of very light scouring in the field and inflow into the tornado. A tree fell onto SR 116 near E 300 S, which a car ran into to. It then continued northeast before lifting near the county line at S 700 W-1. A small garage was shifted off its foundation as the garage door was impacted by the winds as it dissipated.

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

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

• Dispatch reported a tree down into the roadway near the intersection of SR 116 and CR E 300 S. A vehicle was reported to have driven into the tree about 10 minutes later, but no details on injuries and no pictures available.
• The building was shifted off its foundation about 12-16" as well as the side wall separated and bowed out approximately 12". Splatter on the garage door suggests the wind hit the door, but it did not give resulting in the poorly anchored structure to shift. There was no other damage on the property.
• Drone images from EMA indicate trees down towards the NE with the tornado likely starting near this area.

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

A strong cold front swept through on March 11th, causing temperatures to plummet from the 60s into the 30s. A squall line (QLCS) developed ahead of the front, bringing damaging winds and embedded tornadoes to Wells and Jay counties in eastern Indiana.

A weak circulation touched down in an open field southwest of the|intersection of CR S 600 E and E 350 S. The tornado moved|northeast causing damage to a pole barn which lost its roof as|well as had leaning walls. Debris impacted an adjacent pole barn|with the pieces of metal being carried downstream into a yard|just to the east of the above noted intersection. The circulation|continued across mainly unplanted fields, but drone imagery|indicated a narrow area of very light scouring in the field and|inflow into the tornado. A tree fell onto SR 116 near E 300 S,|which a car ran into to. It then continued northeast before|lifting near the county line at S 700 W-1. A small garage was|shifted off its foundation as the garage door was impacted by the|winds as it dissipated.

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 10:23 UTC and running to 14:30 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:29 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), 29 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), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:37 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

56 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.