Central Indiana Tornadoes of March 20, 1976

Tornadoes:

Tornado - Near West Lafayette Tippecanoe County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 4:20* PM EST F Rating F4 Path Length 18* Max Width 300 yards Injuries/Deaths 8/0 Summary: The tornado first struck at Klondike (7 NW of Lafayette), accompanied by golf ball sized hail. Eight homes were destroyed with 31 homes and 16 mobile homes damaged. Eight persons were injured, none seriously.  The storm moved northeastward into Carroll County. Damage was reported to several houses in the Springboro-Pittsburg area.  *NWS Storm Data info. Narrative from Purdue University lists different data. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - Prairieton Vigo County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 4:30 PM EST F Rating F0 Path Length 14 miles Max Width 40 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: The tornado touched down at Prairie Village Trailer Court, destroying or damaging 8 trailers. No injuries resulted, however, as the structures that suffered the heaviest damage were used for storage and not occupied. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - Greencastle Putnam County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 5:10 PM EST F Rating F2 Path Length 25 miles Max Width 200 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: The tornado destroyed two mobile homes and did some damage to other houses. A parked truck was hurled into a tree. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - Carmel Hamilton County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 5:30 PM EST F Rating F0 Path Length 1 mile Max Width 30 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: The roof was blown off a car dealership. Forty cars suffered damage from falling debris. A hog barn sheltering 460 hogs suffered damage. One hog was killed and three were injured. A very heavy rainstorm accompanied the tornado. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - Avon Hendricks County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 5:35 PM EST F Rating F0 Path Length 8 miles Max Width 30 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: The tornado touched down near US 36. Some minor damage to homes occurred.  Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - Anderson Madison County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 6:27 PM EST F Rating F1 Path Length 6 miles Max Width 100 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: The tornado ripped the roof off a house and uprooted several trees on the south side of the city. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate.)

Tornado - New Castle Henry County Date March 20, 1976 Time (Local) 6:35 PM EST F Rating F0 Path Length 0.8 miles Max Width 15 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: A brief touchdown of a tornado picked up a car going south in the city and dropped it in a front yard. Another car going north was turned end from end. Track Map (Note that Path Image is Approximate)

Photos

Selected Images of West Lafayette Area Tornado from Purdue University Archive

Tornado Photo (Purdue University)	Tornado Photo From Purdue Research Park (John Varnes/Purdue University)	Tornado Photo Near 225N/600W Tippecanoe Co. (Phil Snyder/Purdue University)	Aerial Photo of Portion of Tornado Path (Purdue University)

West Lafayette Tornado Survey Information from Purdue University Archive

Tornado Survey Page 1 (Purdue University)	Tornado Survey Page 2 (Purdue University)	Tornado Survey Page 3 (Purdue University)	Tornado Survey Page 4 (Purdue University)

Purdue Tornado Research

The 1970’s were a prolific period for tornado research in the United States. March 1976 was a notable month for severe weather, holding the record for the most tornadoes reported in the month of March (180) until that record was broken by 222 tornadoes in 2022. Several of these tornadoes were F2 and F3 intensity on the then-relatively new (original) Fujita scale.

A major tornado outbreak concentrated in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana occurred on 20 March 1976. Of the three F4 tornadoes recorded in the outbreak, one of them came within just 5 miles (~8 km) of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and struck many of the nearby rural communities. The tornado, which was preceded by a well-documented robust wall cloud, tracked for roughly 24 miles (~38 km) and lasted for 10 minutes (2125 to 2135 GMT).

At the time of the West Lafayette tornado, Dr. Ernest Agee was an Atmospheric Science professor at Purdue University. Outside of his teaching responsibilities, he was an accomplished research meteorologist and a pioneer in modern severe storms and tornado research. Some of his most notable work included the development of the multi-vortex and tornado family conceptual models, as well as being part of a team (including Dr. John Snow and Dr. Christopher Church) that constructed a physical tornado simulator at Purdue.

Dr. Agee’s 1976 West Lafayette tornado analysis was heavily influenced by his prior work on the 1974 super outbreak, which saw over 100 tornadoes tear through 13 midwestern states, including Indiana. After that event, Dr. Agee and his colleagues, Dr. Snow, and Dr. Church, mailed out hundreds of surveys to impacted communities. In an early version of crowd sourcing, these surveys allowed the public to provide statements, photographs, and illustrations of what they witnessed that day. His analysis of the event would aid in the development of the aforementioned multi-vortex tornado and tornado family conceptual models. After the 1976 tornado, Dr. Agee mailed out a new round of surveys while also performing a detailed observational study on the damage path the tornado left. After assembling the data, he found damage that was indicative of an F4 tornado as well as evidence that the tornado was multi-vortex.

The ground observational studies that Dr. Agee performed played a vital role in his analysis of the 1976 West Lafayette tornado. The witnesses’ survey responses contained critical information, such as written descriptions, experiences, and polaroid and film photographs of the tornado itself as well as the damage it inflicted. This information was then used to determine characteristics of the tornado and its parent storm, combining the witness testimonies and photographs with official damage reports. The process of compiling diverse sources of information, which is known as sensemaking, not only allowed Dr. Agee and his team to closely analyze this specific tornado, but also limited the amount of public pushback around his multi-vortex theories due to evidence of multiple vortices and debris marks from collected photographs.

Although the West Lafayette tornado was only one of 51 tornadoes that day, its intensity and proximity to a regional hub of tornado research at Purdue led it to be not only the most studied tornado of the day, but arguably also one of the best studied tornadoes in Indiana history.
The materials Dr. Agee and his collaborators collected during his study have been digitized by Purdue University. This digital archive commemorates the 50th anniversary of the event as well as the role that Dr. Agee played in a prolific era of tornado research.

Environment

Figure 1: Surface Map at 7 AM EST	Figure 2: 500 MB Plot at 7 AM EST