Northern Indiana

Weather Forecast Office

Tornado & Wind Damage March 31, 2016

Overview

Several lines of showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front. Pockets of wind damage were noted across portions of the area, with evidence of 3 tornadoes found within damage areas in Wabash, Noble and White counties in Indiana.

Tornado
Photos & Video
Radar
Storm Reports
Environment

Tornadoes:

Tornado 1- Wabash, Indiana
Wabash County

Date	March 31, 2016
Time (Local)	556 pm EDT
EF Rating	1
Est. Peak Winds	105 mph
Path Length	0.75 miles
Max Width	60 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado destroyed a old, small metal outbuilding, tore metal roofing from a nearby pole barn and shifted a single wide manufactured home 4 feet off its cinderblock foundation. Several trees suffered damage ranging from snapped limbs to uprootings. A home suffered porch damage with a well-constructed wooden playground set being dragged about 30 yards to the east.

Track Map

Downloadable KMZ File

Tornado 2- Albion, Indiana
Noble County

Date	March 31, 2016
Time (Local)	549 PM - 550 PM EDT
EF Rating	EF1
Est. Peak Winds	90 mph
Path Length	0.50 miles
Max Width	30 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado caused damage to the roof and walls of a barn, as well as snapping power poles shortly after touching down. Debris was carried to the next property where several pine trees were snapped or uprooted. The entire roof of a log cabin was removed and thrown to the northeast into an adjacent woods, where some debris from the previous barn was also found.

Track Map

Downloadable KMZ File

Tornado 3- Wolcott, Indiana
White County

Date	March 31, 2016
Time (Local)	405 PM - 408 PM EDT
EF Rating	EF0
Est. Peak Winds	85 mph
Path Length	3.1 miles
Max Width	120 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: A tornado was found on the edge of a swath of wind damage. A barn was destroyed with it's debris being carried several miles. The tornado remained over mainly open fields until pushing over several steel power poles at their base on US-24. A large pole barn suffered moderate roof damage as winds entered a gap on the bottom of the structure. A home suffered minor roof damage.

Track Map

Downloadable KMZ File

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

Photos & Video:

Wabash, IN EF1 (Pictures from NWS Survey)


Mobile Home Shifted off Cinderblocks	Old Metal Outbuilding Destroyed	Piece of wood driven into ground

Albion, IN Damage (Pictures from Noble County EMA)


Trees damage/Roof removed Tornado Damage	Picnic table and Swing Set thrown Tornado Damage	Roof Damage to barn Tornado Damage	South half of roof removed Straight Line Winds

Wolcott, IN EF0 Damage (Pictures from White County EMA)


Roof Damage to Barn	Roof and side panels removed	Large area of roof removed

Radar:

Images at time of tornado

Radar Image at 5:56 PM EDT

Wabash, Indiana EF1

Radar Image at 5:49 PM EDT

Albion, Indiana EF1

Radar Image at 4:07 PM EDT

Wolcott, Indiana EF0

Storm Reports

Environment

Low pressure was working across the northern Great Lakes with a trailing cold front. A 40 knot low level (850 mb) jet was impinging on the forecast area, with mid level (500 mb) winds in excess of 80 knots.


Figure 1: Surface Map at 5 pm EDT	Figure 2: 850 mb Wind/Pressure/Dewpoint at 5 pm	Figure 3: 500 mb Pressure/Wind/Isotachs at 5 pm

While surface based CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) was on the lower side (500 to 750 J/KG), wind shear through much of the atmosphere was high in the 80 to 90 kt range with low level Storm Relative Helicity also favorable for rotation (200-300 m2/s2 ).


Figure 4: Surface Based CAPE at 5 pm	Figure 5: 0-6 km Shear at 5 pm	Figure 6: 0-1 km Storm Relative Helicity

SPC Outlooks


Figure 7: SPC Day 2 Outlook	Figure 8: SPC Day 1 Outlook at 4 pm EDT	Figure 9: Mesoscale Discussion

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