Wednesday, June 25, 2025
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Vol. 54, No. 53
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
YEAR OF THE TORNADO;
meteorologist reacts to tornado increase INDIANA TWISTER — A tornado rolled throu Greene County in May. gh southern Indiana Photo by Ashley Inman in .
GHTHOUSE — WEATHER LI the dar tower by The Doppler ra reFo er th a Wea Northern Indian es to alert the serv casting Office seer Service of th ea W l na Natio n ha at N Photo by vere weather. Pace.
ON A DIVIDE — Locate d on the Continental Div ide between North Webst Syracuse, the National We er and ather Service, Northern Indiana Weather Forecast issues tornado warnings ing Office for the area. Photo by Na than Pace.
By NATHAN PACE Staff Writer If you think the state of Indiana has been under gun of severe weather more in 2025, the numbers back the thought up. As of Friday, June 13, Indiana has experienced 56 tornadoes in 2025. More than double the typical average the state has in a year. Indiana is on pace to break the record number of 72 tornadoes confirmed in 2011. Lonnie Fisher is the warning coordinator meteorologist at the National Weather Service, Northern Indiana Weather Forecasting Office. He admits there is no definitive reason for the increased tornado activity in 2025. “There are all kinds of possible theories. A La Niña winter as we transition to spring, coming out of that makes it a more active pattern,” Fisher said. “Most likely that is allowing more moisture to come up. The clash with the air masses, means more chances for show-
ers and thunderstorms.” Most of tornadoes that have impacted the state have focused on southern Indiana but two twisters have touched down in the local area with the first Wednesday, March 19, near Akron and also Wednesday, April 2, in Bourbon. “The past three years, we’ve had at least one severe weather outbreak, right in that very late March to early April window. This year, we had two events in that window,” Fisher said. The nickname “Tornado Alley” typically refers to tornadoes occurring in the Great Plains, but Fisher said he and other meteorologists feel the phrase makes those in Indiana minimize the threat tornadoes can impose locally. “We are trying to get away from that quote unquote “Tornado Alley.” They can happen everywhere and everyday,” Fisher said. Improved Reporting Part of the reason why more
tornadoes have been reported is the technology for finding them has improved. Fisher said that has not always been the case. “If you go back in time, there were tornadoes that occurred that we didn’t know about. A farmer would later find a path of damage in a cornfield and wonder how it happened. The reporting of tornadoes have improved dramatically,” he said. This year marks 60 years since the Palm Sunday tornadoes that ran through Elkhart County and northern Indiana. At the time, the tornado warning system was still being developed. The tornado warning system we know of today was merely called “a tornado forecast.” “They had radar that they looked at back then and it gave them information but it couldn’t tell them intensity of the storms,” Fisher said. “They could only warn if they had the hook echo but by the time they could see that hook echo, it was Continued on page 3