Louisville, KY

Weather Forecast Office

March 15, 2025 Severe Event

Overview

A powerful storm system brought impactful weather to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys on March 14-15, 2025. Over southern Indiana and northern Kentucky, multiple supercells and QLCSs moved over the area bringing an EF1 tornado, winds up to 70mph, and up to 2 inch hail in the morning of March 15th, 2025.

Tornado
Wind & Hail
Radar
Rainfall
Environment

Tornadoes

Tornado - Orleans
Orange County, IN

Date	March 15, 2025
Time (Local)	4:45 - 4:53 AM EDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	110 mph
Path Length	11.02 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0/0
Summary: The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey for the storms that occurred in Orange County early Saturday morning, March 15th 2025. A tornado was determined to have occurred in West Baden Springs and continued for about 11 miles to the northeast to Orleans with a maximum wind speed of 110 mph and a max width of 50 yards. More...

Track Map

Downloadable KMZ File


EF-1 damage to two dozen trees, estimated winds of 104 mph	EF1 damage to the roof of a home, estimated winds of 100mph	EF1 damage to a large tree and pine trees, estimated winds of 110 mph	EF0 damage to a barn roof, estimated winds of 74 mph

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

Wind & Hail:

Track Map

A link to the Storm Report Summary can be found here

Wind

Multiple reports of structural and tree damage in Dubois County, IN, Meade County, KY, Clark County, IN, and Jefferson County, KY.


Shed thrown on top of car in Holland, IN	Wind Damage to a construction site in Jeffersonville, IN

Hail

Multiple reports of hail up to 2 inches were reported in northern Kentucky and southern Indiana. Some areas in Clark County, IN and Jefferson County, KY reported accumulating hail.


Golf ball sized hail in Goshen, KY	2 inch hail in Jeffersonville, IN	Accumulated quarter sized hail in Sellersburg, IN

Radar


Bowing line moving into Orange county as a tornado touches down east of West Baden Springs, IN	Storm Relative Velocity of the tornado as it moves into Orleans, IN	Hail Core over Hancock County, which produced up to 2 inch hail	Hail Core over southern Indiana that brought up to 2 inch hail

Rain Reports

48-hour rainfall totals across the region. This lead to some minor areal flooding and river flooding.

Environment

Synoptic Maps at 8Z


Figure 7: 500mb	Figure 8: 850mb	Figure 9: Surface

8Z Environment Maps for the Orange County Tornado


Figure 1: 0-6km Shear	Figure 2: Surface based CAPE and CIN	Figure 3: 0-1km Storm Relative Helicity

11Z Environment Maps for the Northern Kentucky and Southern Indiana Hail


Figure 4: Mid-level lapse rates	Figure 5: Supercell Composite Parameter	Figure 6: Significant Hail Parameter

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