Indiana
Indiana's open landscape gives tornadoes room to build and severe storms room to run. Lake-effect snow buries the northwest. Ice storms paralyze the center. The Ohio River floods the south. The hazards here are not dramatic. They are relentless.
Enter your Indiana ZIP for live alerts, forecasts, and county-specific data.
Know your region
Gary, Hammond, Michigan City, Valparaiso, the Indiana Dunes. Lake Michigan lake-effect snow can drop 2 feet in 24 hours. Severe thunderstorms off the lake are intense. The Gary-Hammond corridor faces urban flooding and extreme cold from lake winds.
Primary hazards: lake-effect snow, severe storms, flooding, extreme cold
Indianapolis, Muncie, Anderson, Kokomo, Lafayette. The state's tornado corridor. The 2012 Henryville tornado (EF4) killed 13. Severe thunderstorms and the 2020 derecho caused widespread damage. Urban flooding in Indianapolis overwhelms aging infrastructure.
Primary hazards: tornadoes, severe storms, flooding, ice storms
Evansville, Bloomington, New Albany, the Ohio River corridor. River flooding from the Ohio, Wabash, and White rivers is recurrent. Ice storms are more common here than in the north. The hilly terrain channels flash floods through narrow valleys.
Primary hazards: flooding, ice storms, tornadoes, heat
Your hazard profile
Each links to a full guide with during-event protocol, recovery steps, and resources specific to IN.
Indiana averages 22 tornadoes per year. The 2012 Henryville tornado (EF4) killed 13 people and leveled parts of the town. Peak season is April through June. Indiana tornadoes can be long-track and powerful across the flat terrain.
Read the tornadoes guide →
Straight-line winds, large hail, and derecho events cause widespread damage from spring through fall. The 2020 derecho hit central Indiana hard. Summer storms can be intense and fast-moving across the flat landscape.
Read the severe thunderstorms guide →
The Wabash, White, and Ohio rivers flood after heavy rain. Indianapolis urban flooding overwhelms aging storm sewers. Spring snowmelt combined with rain produces the worst conditions. Flash flooding in southern Indiana hills develops quickly.
Read the flooding guide →
Northwest Indiana receives heavy lake-effect snow. Central and southern Indiana are more vulnerable to ice storms that cause widespread outages. Cold snaps bring dangerous wind chills statewide.
Read the winter storms guide →
Summer heat indices exceed 105 degrees F during peak events. Indiana's humidity makes heat dangerous before the temperature alone suggests it. Urban areas amplify the risk.
Read the heat waves guide →
Indiana resources
Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Coordinates disaster response, manages the state's building code enforcement, and runs community preparedness programs.
Central Indiana forecasts. Severe weather warnings, tornado watches, winter storm advisories, and flood alerts for the state's most populated region.
Aggregated power outage tracking across all Indiana utilities. Check restoration timelines during storms and ice events.
Indiana's information and referral service. Energy assistance, disaster recovery, food banks, and shelter locations.
March 2, 2012
On March 2, 2012, an EF4 tornado cut through Henryville, Indiana, killing 13 people and destroying much of the town. The tornado was on the ground for over 40 miles. Henryville Elementary School took a direct hit. The school had sheltered students in hallways and interior rooms minutes before. Every student survived. Thirteen other people in the community did not.
The difference between the school and the homes was preparation. The school had a plan, practiced it, and executed it. The homes that were destroyed were, in many cases, structures without basements and without a designated safe room.
For every Indiana household, the tornado question is simple: where do you go in 4 minutes? If you do not have a basement, a safe room, or a reinforced interior space identified and practiced, that is the gap in your preparation.