An EF5 Tornado Hit Indiana This Month. It Was the First in the US Since 2013.

On March 10th, a tornado struck eastern Indiana with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour. It was classified as EF5 — the maximum rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, representing the most violent tornado damage possible. It was only the second EF5 tornado recorded in the United States since 2013.

That single data point tells a story, but it doesn't tell the whole one. The March 2026 tornado outbreak was a multi-day event that began on March 5th and produced 30 confirmed tornadoes across Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Eight people died. Twenty-nine were injured. The damage stretched across hundreds of miles of the Central and Midwestern United States.

The first wave hit the evening of March 5th, when a supercell tracked for several hours through northwestern Oklahoma into Kansas, producing multiple tornadoes. In Major County, Oklahoma, an EF2 tornado struck a car on US Route 60, killing a mother and daughter who were driving when the storm overtook them.

“In Major County, Oklahoma, an EF2 tornado struck a car on US Route 60, killing a mother and daughter who were driving when the storm overtook them.”

The outbreak continued through March 7th, with tornadoes confirmed in southern Michigan and scattered severe weather across the region. Then, on March 10th, the second wave brought three more significant tornadoes across Indiana and Illinois — including the EF5 that became the event's defining moment.

On March 16th, a separate severe weather event produced a Level 4 out of 5 risk covering the region from Maryland to South Carolina. A tornado watch was issued for Washington, D.C. and multiple counties across Virginia and Maryland — a rare occurrence for the Mid-Atlantic region.

March has historically been the month when tornado season begins its acceleration across the central US. But the geographic spread of this year's activity — from Oklahoma to Michigan to the DC area — is notable. Severe weather research suggests that tornado alley is shifting eastward over time, bringing significant tornado threats to communities that historically experienced them less frequently.

For anyone living in tornado-prone regions, the standard preparation advice remains unchanged: have a plan, know where your shelter area is, keep a NOAA weather radio accessible, and take tornado warnings seriously every single time. The people who survive these events are overwhelmingly the ones who had a plan before the sirens started.