Thunderstorm Wind — Lagrange, Indiana

2014-07-01 · near Stroh, Lagrange, Indiana

Event narrative

Emergency management officials reported a six to eight foot diameter tree fell into a residence on Big Long Lake. A 64 year old male was crushed by the tree, killing him.

Wider weather episode

A line of severe thunderstorms developed in eastern Iowa during the afternoon hours of June 30th. Plenty of instability and moisture was available for the line to mature into a severe bow-echo with the bulk of this racing northwest of the area into Wisconsin and Central Lower Michigan. The southern flank of this line did briefly take on bowing characteristics, producing gusty winds over southern Lake Michigan into portions of northwestern Indiana and far southwestern Lower Michigan before dissipating. Behind this line, a much stronger line of thunderstorms rapidly developed on a pre-frontal trough in northern Illinois. This line had much more favorable parameters to work with deep layer shear to 50 knots and a rapidly increasing low level jet to 50 knots. As this second line of convection raced into northwestern Indiana during the late evening hours, several stronger circulations were noted along the leading edge that lead to multiple tornado confirmations and swaths of at times extensive wind damage. The second event continued into July 1st with additional wind damage and confirmed tornadoes occurring during the early morning hours.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.5600, -85.2400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 538290. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.