Last Updated 4 days by Amnon J. Jobi | Amnon Front Page

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Hoosier state is no stranger to bad storms on a yearly basis.

1965 Palm Sunday Outbreak: Arguably, Indiana’s most violent tornado outbreak took aim on the northern half of the state on Sunday, April 11, 1965. The event was preceded by a warm and humid day that featured many people being involved with church services.

Our overall weather set up is what drove this outbreak. A very powerful low-pressure system was northwest of Indiana with a sea level pressure of 988 millibars. As a warm front moved north, the atmosphere rapidly destabilized. Strong wind shear was present, which was the main ingredient in this event. Multiple supercells were present and formed out ahead of the cold front.

Paul Huffman photographed a famous double funnel in Dunlap, Indiana, during the Palm Sunday Outbreak. This photo shows two funnels rotating around the same tornado cyclone. Fifty seconds after this photo was taken, the funnels would basically merge back into a singular circulation.

Sadly, this marks Indiana’s deadliest tornado event in state history with 137 people being killed. The tornado that ripped through southern sections of Elkhart is the Indiana’s single deadliest tornado on record with 36 fatalities.

1974 Super Outbreak: One of the largest tornado outbreaks in United States history did not exclude Indiana from its fury. Of the 21 tornadoes that tore across Indiana, one was the only F-5 tornado in the state’s history. With the former Fujita scale, that puts the F-5’s winds from 261–318 mph.

The tornado that heavily impacted Monticello stands as Indiana’s second-longest track tornado on record.

Below are the 25th, 30th and 40th anniversary news packages commemorating the 1974 Super Outbreak.

25th anniversary

30th anniversary

40th anniversary

Rare Long Track Tornado in 2002: The John Marshall Middle School on the east side of Indianapolis experienced a violent F-3 tornado (winds from 158-206 mph) that nearly killed all 900 students. Students and teachers quickly dropped everything and moved to their designated safe spots, with no serious injuries reported. The school’s auditorium and gym were considered unsafe due to gaps in the roof and holes in the ceiling, but the students followed their safety lessons and successfully evacuated to safety.

This tornado would become the longest-track tornado in Indiana history; it stayed on the ground for an unbelievable 112 miles.

What is also very rare about the September tornado was that it came in a time of the year that doesn’t involve peak tornado season. Five other tornadoes also touched down the same day.

Workers salvaged items from a dark, quiet Baxter YMCA building after a tornado hit southern Marion County. A seven months’ pregnant worker got away from the building and sought medical attention. She was the last person out of the pool at the Baxter YMCA.

Indy 500 Tornado Scare 2004: On Sunday, May 30, 2004, severe storms hit the south side of Indianapolis, causing significant damage to buildings, trees and vehicles. Chopper 8 pilot Keith McCutcheon recalled a flight in 2002 in which he said the storm’s winds were strong enough to overturn semis.

Miraculously, everyone survived, but patients were transferred to area hospitals to find a place to stay.

The mobile home community of Windhurst Park on the east side along East Washington Street was severely damaged, with homes lifted from their foundations and crushed into each other.

The day featured the highest risk level for severe weather, which is used when severe storms are expected to be widespread and life-threatening. Indiana had 23 tornadoes that day.

Most notably, the Indianapolis 500 was affected. On–off rain earlier in the morning caused the race’s start to be delayed over two hours. The race began shortly after 1 p.m., but then went into another long delay due to heavy rain at Lap 28.

The race was stopped 20 laps short of the full 200 due to a supercell that spawned the Indianapolis F-2 tornado, with winds from 71-112 mph.

Web extras

“Chasing Danger”: In the Emmy-winning two-parter “Chasing Danger,” which aired July 8 and 9, 2004, a team of storm chasers from Ball State University experienced one of the most successful chases ever. They covered hundreds of miles and witnessed 11 tornadoes in one day. The team witnessed more than five tornadoes in an hour. One of the Ball State students was a Marcus Bailey, now a meteorologist at WISH-TV.

Ball State professor Dave Arnold took meteorology students to the Great Plains every spring for motivation. The students learned to identify the best vantage point for observing tornadoes, and how to locate and safely observe supercells and mesocyclones. They also learned to report severe weather, and how to help save lives by issuing warnings.