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F2 tornado in Warrick County, Indiana

Tornado May 30, 2004 · Warrick County, Indiana

Rating

3.0 mi

Path length

80 yd

Path width

$2.5M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado touched down just west of Phelps Road, and it lifted at Highway 66 and Sharon Road. Access to the city of Newburgh was restricted due to many trees on roads and power lines. Many of the trees landed on homes, businesses, and vehicles. A front porch was torn off a home. Carports were destroyed, including one that was thrown into a ravine. The city's maintenance garage was buried under fallen trees, destroying four of the city's five trucks. Several roofs were blown off businesses. Peak winds were estimated near 120 MPH.

The wider storm

Widespread damaging winds raked southwest Indiana. Embedded short-lived tornadoes and intense downbursts caused pockets of severe damage. The single most destructive event was an F-2 tornado that struck Newburgh, Indiana. Another tornado in the northern suburbs of Evansville caused over one million dollars damage. Intense downbursts occurred in eastern Warrick County and southern Spencer County. The downburst in Warrick County occurred south of Tennyson, near the Spencer County line, where hundreds of trees were blown down or damaged. The damage area, which was caused by winds estimated near 85 MPH, was about 3.5 miles long and 50 to 75 yards wide. Little or no damage was reported to residences in this very sparsely populated area. Another larger downburst in southern Spencer County caused more significant damage from Enterprise to Rockport. Estimated winds from 70 to 80 MPH caused lots of damage to trees. The damage area was about 9 miles long and 2 miles wide. Some structures were damaged, and shingles were blown off roofs. Across the remainder of southwest Indiana, numerous trees were blown down across southern Gibson County, and a gust to 60 MPH was measured at St. Philip in Posey County. There were trees and limbs down in Posey County. Sporadic tree damage was reported across Pike County. In Warrick County, in addition to the Newburgh tornado and Tennyson downburst, there were numerous trees and power lines down in Boonville. In Spencer County, trees were blown down countywide.

Began near Newburgh (37.9167, -87.4500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F1 Vanderburgh County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5398404. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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