Northern Indiana

Weather Forecast Office

June 22-23 Severe Weather and Tornadoes

Overview

Showers and thunderstorms developed across northwest Illinois during the late afternoon and early evening hours on Wednesday June 22nd, and developed southeastward into northern Indiana. Sporadic reports of wind damage were received across northern Indiana as these storms strengthened, with a few reports of tornadoes and significant straight line wind damage. The areas of most prominent damage were noted across southern White county, southern Kosciusko county, and in Huntington county south of Huntington. Many locations received 1 to 2 inches of rain during the course of this storm, with localized amounts in excess of 3 inches with the heavier showers and thunderstorms.

A National Weather Service damage survey team from this office was dispatched Thursday to investigate storm damage across portions of Kosciusko, Huntington, and Wells counties. As of this morning, the team has confirmed 2 tornadoes in Huntington county southeast of Huntington. Sporadic wind damage was noted in an arc from just southeast of Mentone and extending east southeast to south of Claypool with estimated winds of 70 mph. An area of concentrated widespread wind damage was found in the Yellow Creek lake area. An additional isolated area of widespread wind damage was found along SR 25 in the Palestine lake area. An isolated pocket of wind damage was found along and just west of SR 1 south of Bluffton with estimated winds of 70 mph.

A photogrammetric survey analysis was conducted for the Brookston Indiana area of White county where it was determined that a straightline macroburst wind event occurred with estimated 90 mph winds. Extensive and widespread damage to trees occurred in Brookston along with some structural damage to primarily farm buildings outside of Brookston.

This was part of a larger regional outbreak of severe storms with multiple tornadoes occurring over northern Illinois. See this page from WFO Chicago for more information concerning the extensive storm damage that occurred in northern Illinois.

Tornado
Macroburst
Photos & Video
Radar
Storm Reports
Environment

Tornadoes:

Tornado 1- 5 Miles S-SE of Huntington
Huntington County

Date	June 23, 2016
Time (Local)	1251-1256 AM EDT
EF Rating	EF1
Est. Peak Winds	105 mph
Path Length	2.5 miles
Max Width	200 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: Touched down just west of SR 5 and caused extensive tree damage and some structural damage to a home with multiple large limbs down on the home and multiple vehicles. Additional extensive damage to trees, power poles, and numerous structures then extended eastward along CR 200 S to east of CR 100 E.

Track Map

Tornado 2- 5.2 miles SE of Huntington
Huntington County

Date	June 23, 2016
Time (Local)	1257-102 AM EDT
EF Rating	EF2
Est. Peak Winds	120 mph
Path Length	2.4 miles
Max Width	300 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: Developed in a corn field south of CR 100 S and west of CR 100 E and moved southeast crossing the previous tornado path near CR 200 S and continued southeast crossing CR 200 E south of CR 300 S before dissipating in a wooded area. Extensive damage was noted with this intense EF2 tornado especially in a heavily wooded area east of CR 100 E and south of CR 200 S with evidence of a multiple vortex structure noted in extensive tree and crop damage that occurred here. Additional structural damage to homes, barns, and other outbuildings was common along the remaining path of this tornado.

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Brookston Macroburst

KIND Radar Loop from 12:04 - 12:22 AM EDT

Note the line surge taking place through southeast White county as dark blue and brief dark red colors indicate inbound velocities of 90 to 100 knots with widespread and extensive severe wind damage occurring.

Photos & Video:

Tornado EF1 Damage Pictures (Pictures from NWS Survey)


Severely damaged maple trees, some structural damage to house	Roof damage	Barn damage

Tornado EF2 Damage Pictures (Pictures from NWS Survey)


Barns destroyed, ground scour	Trees snapped and uprooted	Barn collapse and overturn

Video of EF2 Huntington Tornado, credit to Vicky Platt

Radar:

Huntington tornado sequence

Radar Image at 1:00 AM EDT

Strong rotation southeast of Huntington

Storm Reports

Overview of Storm Reports for June 22-23

Environment

A stationary boundary to the southwest of the area began to return northward as a warm front on Wednesday. This front marked a boundary between very unstable conditions across the Mid Mississippi River Valley, and much weaker instability across portions of the southern Great Lakes into the eastern Great Lakes. This transition in instability magnitude often serves as a preferred path for organized thunderstorm complexes. An unseasonably high amount of shear was also present which allowed storms to quickly organize and become strong to severe. Precipitable water values were also quite high, which led to efficient rainfall rates, with a localized reports of rainfall amounts in excess of 2 inches.


Figure 1: 100 mb Mixed Layer CAPE 700pm June 22	Figure 2: Effective Shear 700pm June 22	Figure 3: Precipitable Water 700pm June 22

SPC Outlooks


Figure 7: SPC Day 2 Outlook at 2 am June 21	Figure 8: SPC Day 1 Outlook at 8 pm June 23

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