Severe Weather & Tornadoes - May 23, 2011

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
1045 AM EDT WED MAY 25 2011

...TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR SUNMAN INDIANA...

LOCATION...SUNMAN 2SE IN RIPLEY AND DEARBORN COUNTIES IN INDIANA 
DATE...MAY 23 2011
ESTIMATED TIME...643 TO 647 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...80 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...3 MILES 
BEGINNING LAT/LON...39.202N / 85.107W
ENDING LAT/LON...39.224N / 85.057W
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN NWS
STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON OH HAS CONFIRMED A 
TORNADO NEAR SUNMAN IN RIPLEY AND DEARBORN COUNTIES IN INDIANA ON 
MAY 23 2011.

A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DAMAGE SURVEY CONFIRMED A BRIEF EF0
TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN RIPLEY COUNTY...CROSSING THE COUNTY LINE
INTO DEARBORN COUNTY ON THE EVENING OF MAY 23RD. 

THE TORNADIC DAMAGE WAS EMBEDDED WITHIN A MUCH LARGER AREA OF
STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE...WHERE NUMEROUS TREES WERE DOWNED AND
MINOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS REPORTED.

THE INITIAL TORNADO TOUCH DOWN OCCURRED APPROXIMATELY AT 643 PM 
ALONG CR-900...WHERE NUMEROUS LARGE TREES WERE DOWNED IN DIFFERENT 
DIRECTIONS AND AT LEAST ONE POWER POLE WAS SNAPPED. THE TORNADO THEN 
SKIPPED NORTHEAST...CROSSING STATE ROUTE 101 AND ENTERING DEARBORN 
COUNTY. MORE DAMAGE WAS SEEN ALONG TANGMAN ROAD...WHERE LARGE TREES 
WERE STREWN IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS...AND A METAL ROOF WAS TORN OFF 
A LARGE POLE BARN WITH THE DEBRIS BLOWN TO THE NORTH. FURTHER DOWN 
TANGMAN ROAD...A BARN WAS DESTROYED WITH DEBRIS BLOWN EAST TO WEST 
ACROSS TANGMAN ROAD. A SHORT DISTANCE FURTHER NORTHEAST...TREES WERE 
NOTED TO BE TWISTED AND SNAPPED OFF NEAR HILL ROAD...WHERE THE LAST 
INSTANCES OF TORNADO DAMAGE OCCURRED AT APPROXIMATELY 647 PM.

NUMEROUS INSTANCES OF STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE TO LARGE TREES WERE 
ALSO SEEN IN THE AREA. THE PUBLIC REPORTED SEEING ROTATION IN THE 
CLOUDS BEFORE SEEKING SHELTER...AND RADAR IMAGERY DEPICTED A 
TORNADIC CIRCULATION OVER THE AREA OF TORNADIC DAMAGE INDICATED IN 
THE SURVEY. 

FOR REFERENCE...THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO
THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

EF0...WIND SPEEDS 65 TO 85 MPH.
EF1...WIND SPEEDS 86 TO 110 MPH.
EF2...WIND SPEEDS 111 TO 135 MPH.
EF3...WIND SPEEDS 136 TO 165 MPH.
EF4...WIND SPEEDS 166 TO 200 MPH.
EF5...WIND SPEEDS GREATER THAN 200 MPH.

$$

BINAU/KURZ