Midwest Tornado Outbreak: Rare Waterspout Forms as Tornado Sweeps through Northwest Indiana

This week's tornado outbreak across parts of the Midwest resulted in a short-lived tornado that swept through northwest Indiana before moving onto Lake Michigan as a waterspout, according to the National Weather Service. The EF-1 tornado, with peak winds of 90 mph, touched down at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday in Lake County, Indiana, about 1 mile east of the city of East Chicago, revealed Zachary Yack, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Chicago office.

Tornado's Path and Impact

The tornado was on the ground for about three minutes, moving along the Cline Avenue industrial highway just north of the Gary/Chicago International Airport before it moved onto Lake Michigan and became a waterspout about 3 miles northwest of Gary. The storm had a maximum width of 75 yards and caused damage to trees and wooden utility poles, with some being snapped by its winds. Fortunately, no injuries were reported as a result of the tornado.

Midwest Tornado Outbreak

Furthermore, this tornado outbreak occurred after a period of unusually warm temperatures, leading to nearly two dozen confirmed or suspected tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The National Weather Service confirmed a total of 11 tornadoes in northern Illinois, including 10 in the Chicago area. Yack also mentioned that February tornadoes occasionally touch down in the five counties of northwest Indiana that the weather service's Chicago office covers, stating, “It's not terribly common, but it's not super rare, either.”