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EF1 tornado in Putnam County, Indiana

Tornado June 16, 2026 · Putnam County, Indiana

EF1

Rating

9.4 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

$405K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

An EF-1 tornado with a total path length of 9.37 miles began at this location in Putnam County before crossing into western Morgan County where it dissipated. The maximum path width was 100 yards. The tornado moved mostly over rural areas causing significant tree damage, with a few structures also damaged. Significant damage occurred to a mobile home and two other residences were impacted. One barn was destroyed on one of these properties. The tornado may have skipped a few times along the path. Estimated max wind speeds were 105 mph.

The wider storm

During the 16th late afternoon and evening, a warm, humid airmass interacting with an approaching cold front and associated upper wave triggered scattered severe thunderstorms across central Indiana. Moderate instability and vertical wind shear promoted organized multicells and some supercells.

There were several severe hail reports, with diameters ranging from 1.00 and 1.25 inches impacting Carroll, Tippecanoe, Putnam, Hendricks, Marion, and Hancock counties. Straight-line thunderstorm wind gusts estimated between 58 mph and 60 mph also downed trees and large tree limbs across portions of Parke, Vigo, Putnam, and Morgan counties.

The primary severe event was a tornadic thunderstorm that tracked from Putnam County into western Morgan County. An EF-1 tornado touched down in Putnam County around 7:45 PM EST, with estimated maximum wind speeds of 105 mph. The tornado damaged several residences, destroyed an outbuilding, heavily impacted a mobile home, and snapped many trees. The tornado tracked along an 8.24-mile path across Putnam County before crossing into western Morgan County at 8:01 PM EST, weakening to an EF-0 with estimated peak winds of 70 mph. The tornado tracked an additional 1.13 miles causing minor tree damage before dissipating. The total path length was 9.37 miles. This severe weather event would be the fourth of many for the month which would eventually define a formal disaster period from June 6th to the 18th which was declared by the governor of Indiana.

Began near Cradnick Corner (39.5736, -86.8060).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1353070. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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