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F1 tornado in Martin County, Indiana

Tornado November 15, 2005 · Martin County, Indiana

F1
Rating
2.0 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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

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. 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.The tornado was only on the ground for 2 miles in Martin County, and was significantly weaker and smaller.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Bramble (38.6833, -87.5167).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5479556. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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