EF0 Tornado — Putnam, Indiana

2025-05-16 · near Brunerstown, Putnam, Indiana

Event narrative

The episode's fifth and final tornado, an EF0, occurred briefly in far west-central Putnam County. After touching down about 800 feet north of County Road 400 South, the circulation tracked roughly parallel and about 500 feet southeast of a set of railroad tracks, ending about 350 feet west of County Road 800 West. The tornado tracked over an irregular patchwork of woods and farm fields, uprooting or downing numerous trees. Peak wind gusts at 85 mph.

Wider weather episode

A persistently humid and unseasonably warm air mass provided ample instability late on the 16th. Meanwhile, mid-level forcing streamed into central Indiana from west to east, around the southeastern periphery of a strong mid-latitude cyclone positioned over the Upper Midwest. These ingredients combined to produce rotating storms with damaging winds and tornadoes across southern central Indiana through the late day.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.6069, -87.0044)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1252308. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.