EF2 tornado in Kosciusko County, Indiana

A survey of damage in Wabash and Kosciusko counties by a NWS Survey team revealed that a tornado, which reached a maximum intensity of EF2, touched down just south of the Wabash/Kosciusko county line, west of State Route 15. The tornado crossed into Kosciusko county approximately 4 tenths of a mile east of State Route 15 and continued to the northeast over mainly open fields, occasionally causing tree damage until it hit a farm on CR 300 W approximately half a mile south of SR 14. At this location, there were 4 cattle barns completely destroyed with their contents thrown east-northeast into the field (DI:SBO DOD: 8). There were 600 cattle at the farm at the time the tornado hit and 10 of them were killed with another 10 injured. There was a two story home on this property that had part of the second story roof removed and the second story bedroom shifted as the east wall buckled outward. The debris field from this tornado continued to the NE and power poles were snapped at the base along SR 14. The tornado dissipated shortly after this as it crossed S County Farm Rd. The total path length across both counties was around 4.2 miles with a maximum estimated wind speed of 115 mph.

Deep low pressure moved across the northern Great Lakes, with a strong cold front trailing well south into Arkansas. A 50 to 60 knot low level jet aided in advecting in dewpoints greater than 60 degrees. 0-1km storm relative helicity values of 400 to 600 m2/s2 setup the perfect environment for individual thunderstorms to rapidly rotate. Numerous circulations were noted during the event, some significant, which produced swaths of wind damage as well as several weak to strong tornadoes. Given forward speed of 60 mph or more, the convection quickly translated across the area in a matter of hours.