EF2 tornado in Rush County, Indiana

The EF-2 rated tornado, with max wind speeds of 130 mph, began near the intersection of County Road 400 South and 550 West and tracked northeast. The worst damage was located just southwest of Rushville along County Road 300 South and Flatrock River Road. Two metal silos and a barn were destroyed at a property near the intersection and debris from these structures were twisted and carried one half to three quarters of a mile to the northeast. An extensive amount of trees were sheared and uprooted along Flatrock River Road.

Additional damage occurred to trailers parked at the Fraley and Schilling Trucking Company along State Route 3 just south of Rushville. The last area of significant damage occurred at a home along Orange Pike to the east-southeast of Rushville. Numerous trees were snapped and a detached and well anchored garage was completely destroyed.

Tree damage continued to the northeast of this point...crossing State Route 44 west of Glenwood before ending north of Glenwood near County Road 250 North.

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.