EF3 Tornado — Allen, Indiana

2016-08-24 · near Milan Center, Allen, Indiana

Event narrative

The tornado touched down roughly 1/4 mile northeast of the intersection of Doty Road and Roberts Road in a crop field. The tornado tracked generally in a northeasterly direction causing extensive structural damage to homes, barns, trees, and crops throughout the entirety of the path. A poorly anchored home was wiped off its foundation (DI: FR12 DOD: 9). A two-story barn, anchored with re-bar bolts, was leveled and the debris carried upwards of a quarter mile northeast of the original location. One vehicle in the barn was pulled out and severely damaged with two others parked nearby suffering damage from debris. A combine was mangled on the property, with a small dump truck thrown and bent as well as a Lincoln Town Car carried over a quarter mile and dropped into a field. Drone footage showed extensive scouring of corn and a well defined path that extended for several miles. Maximum winds are estimated at 160 mph. The vehicle and farm equipment being carried or twisted may warrant higher speeds, but there are presently no Damage Indicators to rate these.

Wider weather episode

A unique combination of extreme low level moisture and a passing upper level disturbance provided the trigger for severe storms. Even though the clouds remained in place for most of the day and it did not get very warm, there was just enough instability to allow storms to develop. There was also a high degree of shear in the lowest levels of the atmosphere, which allowed multiple tornadoes to form. No other forms of severe weather occurred during the event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.1475, -84.9187)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 655274. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.