TornadoLookup

Home / Indiana / Wabash

EF2 tornado in Wabash County, Indiana

Tornado November 17, 2013 · Wabash County, Indiana

EF2
Rating
11.8 mi
Whole path
700 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

A tornado which produced EF2 damage in Grant county briefly entered southern Wabash county, causing damage some minor damage to the roof and metal panels on a pole barn before quickly dissipating. The tornado intensity in Wabash county was on the lower end of EF0 and lasted roughly a minute at best.

The wider storm

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.

Began near La Fontaine (40.6529, -85.6676).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

13 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Cass CountyEF2 Wabash CountyEF2 White CountyEF2 White CountyEF2 White CountyEF2 White CountyEF1 Kosciusko CountyEF1 Kosciusko CountyEF1 White CountyEF1 Pulaski CountyEF1 Miami CountyEF0 Cass CountyEF0 Grant County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 485934. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.