F3 Tornado — Daviess, Indiana

2005-11-15 · near Washington, Daviess, Indiana

Event narrative

An F3 tornado touched down near Washington, Indiana on the afternoon of 15 November 2005, and proceeded northeast for 12 miles, lifting at Crane Naval Base in Martin County. The tornado was up to 1/4 mile wide at times. The worst damage occurred 4 miles northeast of Montgomery. K&K Industries sits at that site. Abe Knepp, the owner, is also a chaplain for Daviess County Emergency Management, and was monitoring law enforcement radio traffic while at work. His decision to send his 120 employees home early likely saved several lives, as the plant was destroyed by the tornado 30 minutes after it was cleared. 123 homes and 20 businesses sustained damage in Daviess County. Despite the amount of damage, only one of the 31 reported injuries was considered serious.

Wider weather episode

An area of severe thunderstorms moved through central Indiana on the afternoon and evening of 15 November 2005, fueled by abnormally warm conditions which had been the rule across the region for the first half of the month. One strongly rotating supercell produced three tornadoes, two of them rated strong F3, over southern portions of central Indiana. Additional severe weather occurred with other supercells and squall line storms across central Indiana. Thanks to early warnings and heightened awareness of the severe weather threat, no one was killed by the tornadoes, and only one serious injury was reported.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.7000, -87.1500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5479555. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.