The National Weather Service has finished their assessment of the tornado that touched down in the Orange County area early Saturday morning. The final path ended up being a pretty lengthy one, totally 11.02miles! This included crossing through Prospect, IN, and ending near Orleans, IN. At its strongest it was an EF-1 with wind speeds up to 110 mph. That puts it on the upper end of the EF-1 scale. At its largest it was only 50 yards wide, making it a pretty thin tornado. It was on the ground for 8 minutes, from 4:45 AM to 4:53AM. Luckily, there were no reported injuries or fatalities as a result of this storm.
Below is the survey summary published by the National Weather Service in Louisville. It discusses in detail many of the damage markers NWS staff look for to determine how strong the wind was and thus, what EF ranking the tornado was:
Tornado damage in Orange Co, Photo: Kaleigh Leatherman
Survey Summary:
The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey for the
storms that occurred in Orange County early Saturday morning,
March 15th 2025. A tornado was determined to have occurred in
West Baden Springs and continued for about 11 miles to the
northeast to Orleans with a maximum wind speed of 110 mph and a
max width of 50 yards. The first damage to have occurred was
along West Sinclair Street in West Baden Springs where several
trees were observed to be snapped about 20 feet in height from
the ground level. Power lines were also observed to be down on
North Hopkins Street. Some minor damage to homes occurred in the
neighborhood along Sinclair Street. The tornado continued east
of Sinclair Street to rural portions of West Baden Springs where
tree damage was observed, as well as extensive roof damage to a
residence in the hills east of West Baden Springs. Estimated wind
speeds were between 90 and 100 mph at these locations.
The tornado continued to the northeast across West County Pike Road,
Abbeydell Pike, and US Highway 150. Damage was observed in a
neighborhood to the north of US Highway 50 where several trees
had damage and some minor home damage was observed. Some debris
splatter occurred to one home in this neighborhood on both sides
of the home, and the homeowner commented about hearing the roar
of the wind and the shaking of the house as the tornado passed by
the home. The tornado continued to the northeast and struck a
barn and did extensive roof damage as well as flipping an
unanchored mobile home. The tornado continued along North County
Road 590 West to the northeast where another metal barn had
collapsed. Wind speeds varied between 70 and 90 mph in this
area.
The tornado continued to the northeast along mainly rural
portions of Orange County north of Pipher Hollow where a
residence had tree damage and roof damage on the southwest corner
of the home. Shingles and insulation were thrown and lofted into
nearby trees mainly to the northeast. The tornado continued
along West County Road 350 North where isolated tree snaps were
observed with some minor siding damage to structures. The
tornado then moved across North County Road 200 West and West
County Road 500 North where 6 power lines were snapped and a barn
had some roof panels peeled off. Wind Speeds were estimated
between 60 and 80 mph in these areas.
The tornado moved to the northeast across Lost River area where a
home and several outbuildings had extensive damage from the
tornado. At least a dozen trees were snapped at this location just
to the west of North County Road 100 West. A pole barn garage was
completely collapsed, and the insulation to the garage was lofted
into nearby trees at least 30 feet high. The roof to the garage
was lofted past the tree line north of the property and landed in
a nearby field to the north. The snaps at this location were in
various directions from the swirling tornado winds. The homeowner
commented about the roaring of the tornado, and had felt the air
leaving the house in a rush and returning after the tornado
passed. The strongest winds from the tornado occurred at this
location where estimated winds were around 110 mph.
The tornado continued along North County Road 100 West where a
tree line captured the width of the tornado. Several trees were
snapped along the tree line, where other trees on either side of
the path were untouched. The tornado was about 50 yards wide at
this location with estimated wind speeds of about 100 mph. The
tornado then continued to the northeast to the town of Orleans
where several tree snaps occurred along South 6th Street and West
Harding Street. The tornado then struck a pole barn residence
where the roof was thrown to the north of the building and
insulation was blown into nearby trees. The tornado continued to
the northeast where a church had roof damage at South Second
Street. After this point, the tornado lifted and no additional
damage was observed.
