EF1 Tornado — Hancock, Indiana

2023-02-27 · near Mc Cordsville, Hancock, Indiana

Event narrative

This first tornado touched down approximately 3 miles south-southeast of McCordsville, damaging the roof of a warehouse. The tornado remained on the ground approximately 3.34 miles striking a farm and destroying a farm outbuilding, damaging a large and functioning historic barn (sliding it slightly off its foundation) and snapping numerous trees. The tornado then continued to the northeast, possibly skipping for the last 1.9 miles of its path, crossing Indiana State Route 234 and North Fortville Pike where it blew over a semi truck before ending. This tornado was on the ground for approximately 6 minutes with estimated peak winds of 110 mph.

Wider weather episode

A potent cyclone crossed northern Illinois, bringing central Indiana into its warm sector. This allowed very strong vertical wind shear courtesy of the system's strong low-level jet stream to combine with the warm sector's adequate instability, producing several severe thunderstorms. Near the greatest shear and instability, small supercell thunderstorms produced severe straight line winds, with one supercell spawning two EF-1 tornadoes in Hancock County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.8656, -85.9115)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1073869. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.