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EF1 tornado in Ripley County, Indiana

Tornado May 16, 2025 · Ripley County, Indiana

EF1
Rating
6.3 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
$60K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Ripley County → Dearborn County → Franklin County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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 tornado developed near the intersection of E County Road 1150 N and N Spades Road, where large limbs were broken off from both softwood and hardwood trees. Similar tree damage was found near the intersection of E County Road 1200 N and N Spades Road.

Numerous trees were downed at properties on the west side of Spades Road, south of E County Road 1300 N. A large cluster of tree damage was then observed at a property located near the intersection of E County Road 1300 N and N Spades Road. In addition to some large hardwood tree limbs broken off, several large healthy trees were either uprooted or snapped. Minor siding damage and missing shingles were observed from a nearby home.

Additional uprooted trees were observed northeast of this property. The tornado continued northeast, where it produced damage at a property near the intersection of E County Road 1500 N and N County Road 1000 E. Here, a well-built outbuilding had a complete collapse of its exterior walls. Additional hardwood tree damage was noted through the field northeast of this property. From here, the tornado moved out of Ripley County, Indiana at 1909EST and entered into Dearborn County, Indiana just southwest of N County Line Road. The tornado then crossed into Franklin County, Indiana and dissipated at 1911EST near the county line.

The wider storm

Showers and thunderstorms developed in an unstable airmass ahead of a cold front.

Began near Spades (39.2500, -85.1300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1250937. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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