EF2 Tornado — Johnson, Indiana

2008-06-03 · near Princes Lakes, Johnson, Indiana

Event narrative

In Brown County near Peoga damaged occurred to twenty to thirty homes, a barn, powerlines, trees, and a carport due to a tornado. One indirect injury occurred when I firefighter suffered heat stroke. In Johnson County at Camp Atterbury forty buildings were damaged, dozens of vehicles including a 6,000 pound Humvee and a bus were tossed and crushed, the chapel was damaged, and a trailer was tossed on top of a building. Also in Johnson County in Edinburgh 59 buildings were damaged or destroyed. One woman suffered an ankle injury during the tornado. Damaged occurred in Shelby County to a gas station. One woman at the gas station sustained minor injuries when her car windows were blown out. The tornado touched down at 2024 EST in Brown County near the intersection of Sweetwater Trail and Beech Tree Road. The tornado tracked to the northeast for 2.83 miles before crossing into Johnson County approximately 1000 feet west of County Road 900 at 2030 EST. The tornado continued to track to the northeast for 7.19 miles until 2046 EST when the tornado entered Shelby County just south of the County Road 900 and West State Road 252 intersection. The tornado lifted at 2047 EST in Shelby County after tracking to the northeast and lifting at exit 80 on Interstate 65. The tornado was an EF-2 while in Brown County causing 200 thousand dollars in damage. The tornado was an EF-2 while in Johnson County causing 23 million dollars in damage. The tornado weakened to an EF-1 while in Shelby County causing 15 thousand dollars in damage. Based on damage indicators, at the tornadoes peak intensity wind speeds were around 130 miles per hour. The tornado formed from a supercell and was on the ground for 23 minutes or 10.59 miles.

Wider weather episode

A powerful weather system moved through central Indiana on the night of June 3rd. Associated with this system were damaging straight line thunderstorm winds and tornadoes. Three tornadoes developed from supercells. An EF-1 tornado moved through Decatur County, an EF-2 tornado moved through Brown and Johnson Counties, and then weakened to an EF-1 in Shelby County, and another tornado began as an EF-0 in Shelby County and intensified to an EF-3 in Rush County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.3447, -86.0862)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 114626. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.