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EF3 tornado in Gibson County, Indiana

Tornado February 28, 2017 · Gibson County, Indiana

EF3
Rating
44.1 mi
Whole path
440 yd
Path width
1
Death
2
Injuries
$5.7M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through White County, Illinois → Posey County → Gibson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This long-track tornado crossed from Posey County into Gibson County just northwest of Poseyville. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 41 just north of Fort Branch and just south of the Toyota manufacturing plant. The path later crossed Interstate 69 before ending just south of Oakland City. The tornado was rated EF-3 at a couple of points south and southwest of Owensville, where a couple of houses lost their roofs and most of their exterior walls. This was where the highest winds along the 44-mile path occurred, likely around 150 mph. One person was seriously injured, requiring hospitalization. Cars were tossed 15 yards, and two double-wide mobile homes were destroyed, with their frames blown 50 to 75 yards. Further east, from the Fort Branch area to south of Oakland City, roofs were blown off a few homes and barns were destroyed. Grain bins were destroyed, and trees were snapped. The total number of damaged or destroyed structures in Gibson County was about 106, including some homes.

The wider storm

An isolated but very powerful supercell thunderstorm moved across southwest Indiana during the late evening hours. The storm originated over Missouri in a destabilizing pre-frontal air mass characterized by dew points in the lower to mid 60's. This intense supercell storm awaited the approach of a mid-level impulse from Oklahoma, which was downstream from the primary shortwave trough over the Plains. A southwesterly low-level jet increased substantially during the evening. A long-track, strong tornado was spawned in southeast Illinois, and it continued east-northeast for about 45 miles before lifting in eastern Gibson County, Indiana.

Began near Crawleyville (38.2041, -87.7997).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 677883. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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