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EF2 tornado in Blackford County, Indiana

Tornado November 5, 2017 · Blackford County, Indiana

EF2

Rating

30.7 mi

Whole path

450 yd

Path width

Injury

$90K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Delaware County → Blackford County → Jay County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 450 yards (0.26 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The tornado crossed out of Delaware county, into Blackford county, at the intersection of E County Road 1300 N and S County Road 600 E, impacting several structures and trees on the northeast and southeast side of the intersection. Two homes suffered roof damage, with a garage being destroyed, likely due to winds into the garage door side. A middle aged female resident suffered minor injuries when debris from a south facing window and front door impacted her. The tornado did appear to weaken or possibly cycle as it approached the Jay county line with only minor damage noted to some trees. The circulation appeared to cross the county line (State Route 167), north of W County Road 300 S near Big Lick Creek. Maximum winds were estimated in this portion of the tornado at between 110 and 120 mph and was therefore rates a EF2 in Blackford county.

The wider storm

Warm front provided the focus for morning thunderstorms that eventually turned into a bowing segment across NE IN into NW Ohio. Storms also developed across central Indiana and moved into portions of NE IN and NW Ohio. A cyclic supercell impacted Blackford and Jay county with a long tracked tornado and damage along its track. Flooding issues also occurred in some areas due to training and efficient rain producers.

Began near Millgrove (40.3789, -85.2575).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 727462. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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