EF2 tornado in Monroe County, Indiana

The EF-2 rated tornado, with max wind speeds of 130 mph, began in rural countryside northeast of Ellettsville doing some tree damage before crossing State Road 46 and doing significant tree damage along Chafin Chapel Road. A 400 yard wide path of trees was completely shredded in spots. Additional widespread tree damage was found on Mount Tabor Road and West Cowden Road. Along West Cowden Road, several barns and outbuildings were destroyed as well as a loosely anchored garage completely swept off of its foundation. The tornado continued into rural forest before dissipating.

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.