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EF1 tornado in Washington County, Indiana

Tornado August 7, 2023 · Washington County, Indiana

EF1
Rating
1.8 mi
Path length
60 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 60 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The first tornadic damage was a few trees down off Country Club Road going into the Western Hills Golf Course. There was damage to the garage roofing structure at the Salem Speedway. The tornado was intermittent as it straddled Indiana Hwy 56 in the west side of Salem.

The most significant amount of damage from the tornado was between Hwy 56 and Old State Route 60. There was plenty of damage to the siding, gutters, and to several businesses roofing structures. Debris from the buildings was thrown in a northerly to easterly direction about 150 yards. Winds were 90 mph with a width of 60 yards. There were several snapped and topped power poles and lines as well.

The tornado snapped and uprooted a few trees between old State Route 60 and North Cox Ferry Road. Winds in this area were 80 mph.

Drone photography showed that the damage stopped before it hit Cauble Street.

There was extensive straight-line wind damage throughout Salem of between 60 and 70 mph. One area off Drive-In Theater Rd had 80 mph straight-line winds with many hardwood trees uprooted.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Salem Muni Arpt (38.5957, -86.1412).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1119018. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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