F2 Tornado — Johnson, Indiana

2006-03-31 · near Greenwood, Johnson, Indiana

Event narrative

A tornado touched down just west of Interstate 65 and Main Street in Greenwood on the evening of 31 March 2006. This tornado was on the ground for 25 minutes, covered an area 17 miles long, and caused significant damage to several homes and businesses along its path, which continued into neighboring Shelby County. At its peak, near the small town of London in Shelby County, the tornado was a strong F2, with a width of four tenths of a mile. The tornado lifted near US 52 and State Road 9 in north central Shelby County. According to the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis, more than 140 homes were damaged, some of them severely. Fortunately, no fatalities or life-threatening injuries were reported, although at least one driver, Megan Mahoney of Chesterfield, MO, sustained a concussion when her car was rolled or tossed off of Interstate 74 in Shelby County and into the yard of a home over 150 feet away. This was the third significant tornado in just over three and a half years to affect the southern suburbs of the Indianapolis metropolitan area.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms which formed over northwest central Indiana quickly transitioned to a powerful and expanding squall line with embedded supercells that moved southeast through central Indiana during the afternoon and evening of 31 March 2006. Two tornadoes touched down in the 9-county Indianapolis metropolitan area, one of which was on the ground for 17 miles and did an estimated 8 million dollars in damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.6167, -86.1000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5493251. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.