1984 Oakville, Indiana Tornado

**1984 Oakville, Indiana Tornado**

On April 1, 1984, the village of Oakville, Indiana was struck by a large F5 tornado. This was on the 100 year anniversary of a devastating F5 tornado which also struck Oakville on April 1, 1884.

The tornado was considered one of the worst up to that date, and many compared it to it's 1884 counterpart. It was officially left unrated until 2000, when the SPC assigned it a F5 rating.

## Meteorological history

On March 31, 1984, a powerful storm system emerged over the Upper Midwest. The NSSFC (National Severe Storms Forecast Center) issued a Slight Risk of Severe Thunderstorms for April 1, concerning the possibility of several thunderstorms developing.

 File:April 1 1984 high risk.png
By noon on April 1, the NSSFC had made note of strong wind shear of roughly 2,500 J/kg and denoted the second ever High Risk of Severe Thunderstorms.

By 1800, violent thunderstorms were underway across the region, and the National Weather Service in Indianapolis put out a public statement at 1809.

```
PUBLIC STATEMENT BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA
209 PM EDT ON APR 1 1984

...WORST SEVERE WEATHER SINCE 1974 ANTICIPATED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS
CENTRAL INDIANA...

AS VIOLENT THUNDERSTORMS ERUPT ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON, THE WORST
TORNADO OUTBREAK SINCE 1974 CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT.

MULTIPLE TORNADOES, A FEW POSSIBLY STRONGER THAN F2, AND SOME REACHING F4
TO F5 INTENSITY, AS WELL AS LARGE HAIL AND VERY DESTRUCTIVE WINDS CAN BE
ANTICIPATED.

TAKE THIS TIME TO OVERVIEW YOUR TORNADO SAFETY PLAN, AND PREPARE FOR THE
WORST IF A TORNADO APPROACHES YOUR HOME.

THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AT 800 PM EDT.

```

By 1830, a tornado warning had been issued for Marion County as a storm moved east-northeast. At 1941 a funnel cloud was spotted over Sulphur Springs with the cell that had previously produced a tornado warning for the city of Indianapolis.

A tornado touched down just northeast of Sulphur Springs at 1944, and by the time the tornado was located near Springport it was a F3 wedge. A "severe" tornado warning was issued at 1951 for Delaware and Henry Counties.

### Warning text -

```
TORNADO WARNING BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA
351 PM EDT ON APR 1 1984

...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR HENRY AND DELAWARE COUNTIES...

SEVERE TORNADO WARNING FOR HENRY AND DELAWARE COUNTIES, AT 351 PM,
MULTIPLE 911 CALLS HAVE CONFIRMED A LARGE TORNADO ABOUT A MILE SOUTHWEST
OF SPRINGPORT...AND MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THIS TORNADO IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING EXTREME LOSS OF LIFE AND EXTENSIVE DAMAGE
IN THE WARNED AREA! TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY! A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT
UNTIL 900 PM EDT FOR MUCH OF INDIANA.

```

The tornado moved through western Springport at 1952, causing F3-F4 damage to many buildings, before it began moving adjacent to the Norfolk Southern line running through Henry County.

The wedge tornado moved north, reaching a maximum width of 1.3 miles wide before it started to shrink into a cone tornado as it approached Oakville as a F4-F5 tornado.

The tornado at this point was likely very violent, being a small cone tornado at 2000. The tornado entered the village of Oakville at 2001 at peak intensity, tearing a small yet devastating path of damage through the village.

Many houses sustained F3-F4 damage, with a row of houses sustaining F5 damage.

 File:F5 damage Oakfield.jpg
Many had assumed the tornado was weakening due to it's shrink in size, however it was likely continually intensifying through this period.

The tornado moved at forward speeds of 30-40 mph, tearing a anchored house out of the ground just north of Oakville.

The condensation funnel lifted at 2003, however it was still likely a F4 or F5 tornado at this point, however the tornado began to undergo considerable weakening and lifted south of Muncie at 2010.

## Aftermath

The tornado initially received a rating of F4 by the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, however Ted Fujita rated the tornado a F5 in mid May, and the NWS followed suite in August.

Delaware and Henry Counties were put under a state of emergency following the violent tornado, and the supercell that produced the tornado would go on to produce a F4 near Portland.