EF3 Tornado — Randolph, Indiana

2024-03-14 · near Farmland, Randolph, Indiana

Event narrative

The Selma tornado lifted in the open area and fields between

eastern Delaware county to near Farmland before redeveloping. As it

moved through Rural Randolph county it bent or snapped numerous

utility poles along State Road 32. Also, a large blade on one of

the wind turbines in the area was badly damaged.

As the tornado entered Winchester, it severely damaged many homes

and snapped and uprooted trees in a west-to-east path through

Winchester. There was clear evidence of the tornado`s rotational

circulation, with uprooted trees pointed to the east on the

immediate south side of the tornado, and to the northwest on the

immediate north side of the tornado. The damage pattern also

indicated the possibility of small multiple vortices rotating

around the main vortex. In the residential core of the town, the

maximum intensity of the tornado was estimated around 130 mph or

high-end EF2 strength.

The greatest damage in Winchester occurred on the east side of

town at the Taco Bell, as the anchored building was destroyed, as

was a church immediately east of the restaurant. In this

concentrated area, the NWS Team estimated maximum winds of 155-165

mph, or high- end EF3 damage. Maximum path width in Winchester

was estimated at up to 0.4 mile or 700 yards.

Farther east across more rural eastern Randolph County, a few

structures had significant damage, debris was blown in fields,

many trees were snapped, and a silo was damaged, all indicative of

EF2 maximum damage in the 115-125 mph range.

The tornado continued to the Indiana-Ohio state line, with less

intense damage primarily to trees before crossing into Ohio.

Wider weather episode

Two rounds of thunderstorms in total brought severe weather to half of central Indiana's counties. During the late morning to early afternoon hours on the 14th, a decaying line of storms brought prolific small hail and isolated wind damage to much of the state.

Severe weather returned when early evening rotating supercells produced widespread large hail across north central Indiana, which gradually spread towards the southeast when a supercell tracking east of Muncie produced additional large hail, damaging winds, and two strong tornadoes. An EF2 impacted Selma in eastern Delaware County, before a long-track EF3 crossed much of Randolph County, with significant damage and one fatality in Winchester, before continuing into Ohio. The governor of Indiana signed an executive order declaring both Delaware and Randolph Counties disaster zones.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.1785, -85.1251)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1161518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.