EF1 tornado in Kosciusko County, Indiana

A brief EF-1 tornado was confirmed on the edge of a larger swath of damaging winds by a NWS Storm survey. The tornado touched down near a residence on South County Road 400 West where several tree trunks were snapped at the tops with 2 trees uprooted. A small barn suffered extensive roof damage and partial wall failure. The tornado quickly shifted towards the southeast, crossing State Route 25 where it began to lift. As it was lifting, over twenty 50 to 75 foot tall healthy trees were uprooted or snapped several feet in the air (DI: TS, DOD: 4). One of the trees fell onto a residence, but no injuries were reported. Maximum winds were estimated at 95 mph.

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.