My top 10 Indiana tornado outbreaks

[Hoosier]

I had a thread like this in a past life, but I thought I would expand the number and actually attempt to rank the worst ones. I didn't use a magic formula to come up with this. It's more of a gut feel with the following factors given the most consideration: total number of tornadoes, percentage of strong/violent tornadoes, fatalities, injuries.

Total number was pretty important to me, and as such, most of these outbreaks had at least 10 tornadoes. The outbreaks that didn't featured a relatively large amount of injuries and/or higher percentage of strong tornadoes. So, here's my list of Indiana's worst outbreaks since 1950:

1a. 4/11/1965: You'll find outbreaks with more tornadoes, but the amount of injuries/fatalities just overwhelms all others. This is the deadliest outbreak in the state with 137 fatalties and well over 1000 injuries. This event generated one of the most awe-inspiring tornado pictures of all-time:

1b. 4/3/1974: The Super Outbreak. Indiana was hit very hard with 21 tornadoes, many of them strong/violent. This is the only event that is even within shouting distance (and barely at that) of Palm Sunday 1965 in terms of casualties. I felt a little weird putting a #2 in front of an outbreak as bad as this one so I chickened out and went with 1b.

2. 6/2/1990: If you're a numbers person, you could make a case that this outbreak could be #1. In terms of tornado count, it is. This event holds the state record with 37 tornadoes with many strong/violent. This was responsible for 8 deaths and over 200 injuries, which is pretty significant by 1990 standards.

3. 5/30/2004: Although this event didn't have a big number of strong tornadoes, it did have several and it had a lot of tornadoes (over 20 in fact) which is something I weigh heavily.

4. 11/22/1992: This was a very significant late Fall outbreak which produced 15 tornadoes but miraculously very few fatalities or injuries.

5. 3/12/1976: Late winter outbreak which produced over a dozen tornadoes across the state, killing 2.

6. 9/20/2002: This event had the fewest number of tornadoes on the list. The main reason this one makes the cut is because of the very long track tornado that went through populated areas including Indianapolis. That tornado had a path length of over 100 miles and was rated F3. No fatalities occurred but there were 130 injuries and over $150 million in damage.

7. 3/10/1986: 1 fatality and several dozen injuries. Again, not a large number of tornadoes but quite a damaging outbreak.

8: 3/20/1976: 8 tornadoes occurred including an F4 in/near West Lafayette.

9. 10/24/2001: One of if not the most significant October tornado outbreak in the state. Most of them were concentrated in northern Indiana.

Any Hoosiers feel free to debate this list. Or if you're from another state, feel free to add your own!

[Indystorm]

Your top three numbers on the list are those that I remember without having to check data. And since I am currently living in Elkhart Dunlap I have heard lots of stories from those who were either rescuers or property damage victims. Still a watershed date to this day with a memorial north of Concord Mall and an annual remembrance sponsored by the Elkhart Co. Historical Society. I can remember where I was during those top three events.

[Hoosier]

Your top three numbers on the list are those that I remember without having to check data. And since I am currently living in Elkhart Dunlap I have heard lots of stories from those who were either rescuers or property damage victims. Still a watershed date to this day with a memorial north of Concord Mall and an annual remembrance sponsored by the Elkhart Co. Historical Society. I can remember where I was during those top three events.

Yeah, the order really depends on what metric you favor most, but there's no doubt in my mind that those are the top 3. They were all amazing in their own way. 1965 was incredibly destructive (in fact, the total damage in modern dollars is like $1.5 billion with Indiana eating up a good chunk of that). We all know about 1974. 1990 was just a prolific tornado producer - about 35 of those 37 tornadoes were concentrated in the southern half of the state. I did make a change on my list which was to remove 6/11/98 and add 3/20/76. I had 3/20/76 as one of my candidates but I somehow overlooked it when making the original post.

[hoosierwx]

1925 Tri-State Tornado?

Indiana Ruins of the town of Griffin, Indiana, where 26 people were killedCrossing the Wabash River into Indiana, the tornado struck and nearly totally demolished Griffin, devastated rural areas, impacted Owensville, then roared into Princeton, destroying half the town. The tornado traveled ten more miles (16 km) to the northeast before finally dissipating at about 4:30 p.m. around three miles (5 km) southwest of Petersburg. In Indiana, at least 71 perished.

[edit] Total

In all, at least 695 died and 2,027 were injured, mostly in southern Illinois. Three states, thirteen counties, and more than nineteen communities, four of which were essentially effaced (several of these and others never recovered), were in the path of the record 3.5 hour duration tornado. Total damage was estimated at $16.5 million; adjusted for wealth and inflation the toll is approximately $1.4 billion (1997 USD), surpassed in history only by two extremely destructive tornadoes in the City of St. Louis.^[5] These three events in terms of destruction, inferred by normalized monetary losses, are by far the most destructive (and expensive) tornadoes ever in the United States. Over 15,000 homes were destroyed by the Tri-State Tornado.

[Hoosier]

1925 Tri-State Tornado?

Indiana Ruins of the town of Griffin, Indiana, where 26 people were killedCrossing the Wabash River into Indiana, the tornado struck and nearly totally demolished Griffin, devastated rural areas, impacted Owensville, then roared into Princeton, destroying half the town. The tornado traveled ten more miles (16 km) to the northeast before finally dissipating at about 4:30 p.m. around three miles (5 km) southwest of Petersburg. In Indiana, at least 71 perished.

[edit] Total

In all, at least 695 died and 2,027 were injured, mostly in southern Illinois. Three states, thirteen counties, and more than nineteen communities, four of which were essentially effaced (several of these and others never recovered), were in the path of the record 3.5 hour duration tornado. Total damage was estimated at $16.5 million; adjusted for wealth and inflation the toll is approximately $1.4 billion (1997 USD), surpassed in history only by two extremely destructive tornadoes in the City of St. Louis.^[5] These three events in terms of destruction, inferred by normalized monetary losses, are by far the most destructive (and expensive) tornadoes ever in the United States. Over 15,000 homes were destroyed by the Tri-State Tornado.

I just did outbreaks since 1950.

[Ajdos]

(Michigan) The Flint-Beecher Tornado- Was an F5 on the Fujita scale, damaged hundreds of homes, Total cost of damages was 19 million back in 1953, which would equal to 150 million in 2007...With was 833 yards, and tracked 27 miles across. Took 116 lives, and injured over 850 people..

[Hoosier]

Thread was for since 1950. The Tri State tornado is indeed one of a kind and my father lived very near its track in southern Illinois at the time. His stories about that storm got me interested in weather.

I'm probably going to do a list of my top Indiana tornadoes since 1950...maybe even farther back.

[hoosierwx]

Thread was for since 1950. The Tri State tornado is indeed one of a kind and my father lived very near its track in southern Illinois at the time. His stories about that storm got me interested in weather.

Yes and also for 10 or more tornadoes. Teach me to read the small print, I usually go right for the juicy parts.

[Hoosier]

Here are my top 10 individual Indiana tornadoes, again post 1950. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of 4/11/65 and 4/3/74 tornadoes on here.

1. 4/3/1974: "The Monticello Tornado." This tornado had it all - considerable deaths, injuries, extremely damaging, very long tracked. The path length was originally thought to be 121 miles but after reanalysis it was chopped down to 109 miles. Although this tornado didn't hit any major cities or even really large towns, it caused about $100 million damage in 1974 dollars (over $400 million adjusted to present day!) and heavily damaged/destroyed a good chunk of Monticello. This tornado was rated F4, it killed 16 people, injured over 400, and was up to a half mile wide.

2. 4/11/1965: Russiaville/Kokomo/Greentown. Beginning in Clinton county, this tornado heavily damaged the town of Russiaville before proceeding northeast. It went on to cause significant damage on the south side of Kokomo and then Greentown. In all, 25 were killed and over 800 were injured by this F4 which was on the ground for nearly 50 miles.

3. 4/11/1965: Near South Bend to northeast of Shipshewana. This was the second tornado to hit Dunlap, Indiana on that fateful day. It killed 36 people, injured about 300 and was on the ground for 37 miles. There has been some debate about whether this was actually an F5, but the official rating is F4.

4. 4/3/1974: Depauw. Part of the Super Outbreak, this F5 twister was on the ground for 68 miles, killing 6 and injuring over 75. I toyed with the idea of putting this tornado in a different slot...you can only disrespect a long tracked F5 so much.

5. 11/6/2005: Evansville tornado. This might be the poster child for a tornado hitting a bad place at a bad time - namely, a mobile home park in the wee hours of the morning. This tornado killed 25, injured over 230, and was on the ground for 41 miles. It was deemed a high end F3 and was about a quarter mile wide. This was the deadliest tornado to hit the state in decades.

6. 4/11/1965: Near Crawfordsville to Arcadia. This tornado killed 28, injured over 120, and was on the ground for 45 miles. It was reportedly up to a mile wide.

7. 9/20/2002: Ellettsville/Indianapolis/Anderson/Hartford City. This is probably one of the lesser known tornadoes but that doesn't mean it wasn't impressive. It was on the ground for 2 hours and 21 minutes and traveled 112 miles. Fortunately, there were no fatalities but over 100 people were injured. This tornado was rated F3 and caused over $100 million in damage.

8. 4/3/1974: Henryville/Madison. 11 were killed and approximately 200 injured by this F4 tornado which was on the ground for 35 miles and was over a half mile wide.

9. 4/11/1965: The first Dunlap tornado. This F4 event killed 14 and injured about 200. It was on the ground for over 20 miles and did serious damage to Dunlap, including the Midway Trailer Park. This was the infamous "double funnel" that was captured on camera by Paul Huffman of the Elkhart Truth.

10. 6/2/1990: Petersburg tornado. This 13 mile long tornado was part of the largest outbreak on record for Indiana. It was rated F4 and did heavy damage to the town of Petersburg, killing several and injuring 60.

Well, hope y'all enjoyed my list. There was a lot to choose from and inevitably that means that some good candidates get left off.

[Chicago WX]

Awesome research and great info. I'm curious, being IMBY-ish and all, but where would you rank the April 1994 WL tornado (obviously outside the your top 10) if you had to do a top 20 for Indiana?

[Hoosier]

Awesome research and great info. I'm curious, being IMBY-ish and all, but where would you rank the April 1994 WL tornado (obviously outside the your top 10) if you had to do a top 20 for Indiana?

It would be in the top 20 for sure...probably somewhere between 11-13. I did have that one in mind but I really couldn't put it on this list in good faith.

[Chicago WX]

It would be in the top 20 for sure...probably somewhere between 11-13. I did have that one in mind but I really couldn't put it on this list in good faith.

I understand. That one holds a special place close to my "weather heart", considering it's the closest I've been to a tornado...and a F4 to boot.

[Hoosier]

I understand. That one holds a special place close to my "weather heart", considering it's the closest I've been to a tornado...and a F4 to boot.

Yeah, it was impressive but not impressive enough. There was another tornado from 4/11/65 that probably could've made it...I think I got tired of typing that date. I also looked at some from 3/12/76 and 4/9/53 among others.

[Thundersnow12]

was looking at some radar from 5/30/04, looked like 2 intense sups go up near I-57 in IL right before the red box is issued for my area. would of liked to have been on those.