EF2 Tornado — Benton, Indiana

2023-03-31 · near Swanington, Benton, Indiana

Event narrative

This tornado touched down near the intersection of E County Road 200 S and S Adeway Rd south of Fowler. The tornado tracked to the northeast for nearly 12 miles. Along the way, it damaged a few homes and multiple wind turbines. The tornado reached its maximum intensity just east of Fowler where it snapped the base of a wind turbine about halfway up and threw the blades of wind turbines as far as 600 yards to the northeast. Wind speeds during this time are estimated to be around 120 mph. The storm also downed trees and power poles. It lifted near N County Road 800 E and E County Road 600 N in northeast Benton County.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon and evening of the 31st, a wave of severe thunderstorms produced numerous tornadoes, severe hail, and extensive wind damage across northwestern Indiana. A total of 23 tornadoes were confirmed across the state. The NWS Chicago office tied a record for the most tornadoes to occur in a single calendar day within the office's county warning area with 22, 5 of which occurred in Indiana. Two EF-2 tornadoes occurred in Benton County and one other in Lee County, Illinois. Some of the more notable damage includes a few homes with walls and portions of roofing blown away, a wind turbine that had been snapped in half, and wind turbine blades thrown as far as 600 yards, all a result of the two EF-2 tornadoes in Benton County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.5780, -87.3237)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1085924. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.