EF2 Tornado — Johnson, Indiana

2023-06-25 · near Bluff Creek, Johnson, Indiana

Event narrative

A rotating supercell thunderstorm spawned the tornado just west of the intersection of Travis and Mullinix Roads. Moving east, it intensified quickly while producing mainly high-end EF1 damage (winds up to 110 mph) near and around this intersection, with bricks blown off of a large house, roof damage, a trailer moved into an adjacent yard, trees snapped, and a few snapped power poles. Spotty low-end EF-2 (up to 115 mph) damage was also probable here.

The tornado continued east and went through parts of the Kensington Grove subdivision causing substantial roof damage to some homes while several trees were downed and snapped, indicative of EF1 intensity (95-110 mph). The tornado continued east through the Waters Edge neighborhood and over the area's pond while maintaining EF1 strength (90-100 mph). The tornado continued past the Old Marsh by Indiana Route 135, just before impacting portions of an apartment complex under construction. Here the roof was torn off the length of one of the apartment buildings while many windows were broken and even a few pieces of debris were impaled into the ground, indicative of low-end EF2 winds (115 mph).

The tornado then started to turn southeast and pass over an open field where a narrow debris swath was deposited. In this area the tornado may have skipped off the surface a bit. The tornado then came down and snapped and uprooted numerous trees along West County Road 600 North just south of the Restoration Church. More high-end EF1 damage was evident here (100-110 mph). The tornado lifted about 1500 feet southeast of the church.

Wider weather episode

An afternoon severe weather outbreak was organized by an approaching cold front and fueled by 2000-3000 J/kg of CAPE courtesy of high lapse rates aloft, surface dewpoints in the low to mid-70s, and cooresponding temperatures as high as the mid to upper 90s over western central Indiana. Numerous rotating supercell thunderstorms developed over western central Indiana in the early to mid-afternoon and proceeded to the east-southeast through central and southern Indiana. These cells produced penny or larger hail over 16 of the region's 39 counties, more isolated straight line wind damage to trees, barns and roofs, and four EF1/EF2 tornadoes within a 33-minute period along the I-69 corridor south of Indianapolis. Each tornado was spawned from a separate supercell: an EF2 that impacted residential communities in northwestern Johnson County, a pair of EF1s that tracked across rather rural portions of northern Daviess/Martin Counties and southwestern Monroe County, and finally a longer-track EF2 that crossed far southern Martin County, killing 1 person and injuring another when destroying a rural residence, before ending its track in extreme northeastern Dubois County. The end of the event saw, amid the weakening cluster of supercells, three cells produce isolated large hail over eastern central Indiana, with also wind damage to two barns in the Seymour area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.5692, -86.2210)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1096745. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.