EF1 Tornado — Orange, Indiana

2023-08-06 to 2023-08-07 · near Braxton, Orange, Indiana

Event narrative

The tornado first touched down on the west side of Paoli near the intersection of West Main Street and Willowcreek Road. It then moved eastward, hitting a warehouse on the north side of West Main Street while causing some damage to the roof and soffits. Winds speeds were around 85 mph with a width of 50 yards.

There was sporadic shingle and gutter damage to businesses along West Main Street on the west side of Paoli, with roofing material displaced and several trees snapped and twisted. The roofing material was spread out from a northerly to an easterly direction. There were at least two large trees on homes, laying in a north to northeasterly direction. The Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints Church had most of their windows blown out, as well as roof damage. An anchored sign had been blown over, facing almost due north. Winds were estimated at 90 mph with the tornado`s width increasing to 75 yards.

Several taller buildings at the square in Paoli had significant damage to brick fascia and roofing material was uplifted. The court house had several large chimneys down, and street signs were bent over more than 45 degrees. Damage was thrown several hundred yards to the north and east. Winds were estimated at 100 mph with a width of

75 yards.

There were numerous snapped and twisted trees along Indian Trail Road, with 75 trees down across Green Acres Golf Course. Additionally, there were many snapped, topped, and uprooted trees along Indiana State Road 56 with dozens of trees down on Blueberry Hill Estate. Winds were estimated to be 90 mph with a width increasing to 175 yards. Along Indiana State Road 56 between Limeberry Road and Tater Road, there were 7 barns sustaining roofing and gutter damage. Drone photography was able to detail large swirls in the corn and soybean fields adjacent to the property.

The most impressive damage was to two grain storage tanks, weighing over 50,000 pounds, with a collapse from the southwest to northeasterly direction. NWS drone photography did not show much damage to an adjacent corn field, and surveyors estimated winds at 100 mph at this point with a width of 150 yards.

There were dozens of power poles and lines down all along Indiana State Road 56 approaching Badger Family Farms. The last damage point was near County Road 700 and Indiana State Road 56 with some trees topped and twisted. Winds were estimated at 80 mph with an estimated tornado width of 50 yards. This is approximately 1 mile from the Washington County line on Indiana

State Road 56.

Wider weather episode

Several individual storms moved across Missouri and Illinois before combining into a line of convection as it moved across southern Indiana. The line interacted with the low level jet to produce 6 tornadoes across 4 Indiana counties, including a long track tornado that traveled 25.89 miles through Dubois and Orange Counties. This set the record for the longest known tornado track for the month of August within the NWS Louisville County Warning Area. Other parts of the line surged and caused tree and power line damage along and north of Interstate 64 across southern Indiana and into the greater Louisville, Kentucky area. Additional wind and hail reports were received from the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.5577, -86.4863)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1119017. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.