EF1 tornado in Owen County, Indiana

The EF-1 rated tornado, with max wind speeds of 110 mph, began just southwest of downtown Freedom before moving into the town shearing numerous trees around town. The tornado continued to the northeast leaving a very clear path of sheared and uprooted trees in a path about 200 yards wide. The storm crossed the White River several times over its lifetime and followed the river line to south of Spencer. This is where a large building had its roof uplifted and walls collapsed. The building was part of a business that was set to open for the first time on Monday. The damage ended shortly after and the storm recycled into the next tornado.

A warm front brought severe storms, tornadoes, and heavy rain on June 15th. A significant tornado outbreak that was the largest since November 17, 2013 occurred during the evening of Saturday, June 15th. Seven tornadoes occurred in central Indiana with 3 additional tornadoes across portions of eastern Indiana.

This is what the environment showed. A weak shortwave trough was moving through central Indiana during the time of the severe weather. This was a high shear, low CAPE environment initially which kept convection to a minimum until around 5 PM when just enough CAPE was there to rapidly increase storm coverage and severity. LCL heights were around 750m at the time. The shear profile was ideal for creating numerous rotating thunderstorms. With 0-1km Shear over 30 knots and Storm Relative Helicity in excess of 300 m^2/s^2, the low level environment was primed for tornadoes. The 0-6km shear of 40-50 knots was sufficient for rotating supercells. The significant tornado parameter was not quite as impressive and was kept fairly low due to the low CAPE environment. Had CAPE values been closer to 2000-3000 J/kg, a much more intense outbreak would have occurred. In addition to the tornado threat, Precipitable Water values were in excess of 1.5 inches which also lead to significant flash flooding as the evening progressed.