EF1 Tornado — Hendricks, Indiana

2025-04-02 · near Brownsburg, Hendricks, Indiana

Event narrative

This fourth tornado to impact central Indiana was a secondary circulation that tracked north of the main tornado, from west of County Road 1000 East to west of Raceway Road. The tornado began west of County Road 1000 East where scouring occurred in a field, between Shoals Creek Road and County Road 700 North. The tornado then moved east, only bending a small utility pole before reaching the northwest corner of the Branches subdivision where several homes sustained roof and siding damage. The circulation then continued northeast, crossing County Road 750 North, destroying two older barns and a silo, which was only low EF-1 damage due to the age of these buildings. Debris was strewn to the northeast about a quarter mile with clear ground scouring and a debris field, with the tornado ending in this area. Peak wind gusts were 100 mph.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system generated a line of strong to severe thunderstorms that started in Illinois and moved across central Indiana. Multiple severe storms were embedded within the line and some of these produced tornadoes. Eleven tornadoes impacted central Indiana, ten of which occurred along an overall west-southwest to east-northeast area from north of Terre Haute to north of Muncie. Four of these events, from Hendricks County to Delaware County, were secondary tornadoes that tracked parallel to longer duration tornadoes. Three tornadoes combined to impact western and northern portions of the Indianapolis Metro area, including an EF2 in Hendricks County that caused the episode's only injury. In addition to the tornadoes widespread wind damage occurred with gusts over 80+ mph reported.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.8637, -86.3536)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1248904. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.