In April and May of 1976 an anomalous situation occurred in that no tornadoes were reported for Indiana. This study attempts to determine possible relationships that may have caused the anomalous situation. To better understand the factors surrounding this situation, this study deals with a physical survey of Indiana and a review of literature involving conditions for tornado development. The study tests for relationships between tornadoes, storm tracks, and storm track location relevant to Indiana for the months of March, April, and May, 1955 to 1976, that might suggest reasons for the anomalous situation occurring. Statistical analyses involving correlation tests and analysis of variance, are used to test for possible relationships.

Tornadoes pose a significant threat to residents of Indiana due to a large relative frequency of events that is comparable to most states within classic Tornado Alley. Because of this threat weather forecasters must be very aware of atmospheric environments that lead to tornadogenesis. In some cases these environments are obvious; in others mesoscale variability conducive to tornadogenesis may not be easy to identify. As a result the purpose of this study is to determine if mesoscale variability along primary land-cover boundaries plays a significant role in the climatology of tornadogenesis in Indiana. This is accomplished by developing a set of spatial and temporal climatologies for all significant (F2 and greater damage) Indiana tornadoes from 1955 - 2001. These climatologies are used to determine if spatial distributions of tomadogenesis events are influenced over space and time by significant land-cover boundaries. Results of this research seem to suggest that land-cover boundaries play a role in the tornado climatology of Indiana, with large tornadogenesis frequencies in Lake County, Marion County, and along a corridor extending from central into southern Indiana. Urban heat island circulations seem to play a role in the Lake and Marion counties' frequency maxima, while non-classical mesoscale circulations (NCMCs) appear to contribute to the frequency maxima in southern Indiana. / Department of Geography

This study addressed emergency management preparedness and local citizen recovery from a disaster event through a case study of the Elkhart County, Indiana 18 October 2007 tornado. A discussion of the disaster recovery process of Amish households in northern Indiana enables local emergency managers to gain a better understanding of disaster recovery needs for specialized populations. The primary objective to be addressed by this thesis was to create a tornado climatology for emergency managers to use as part of a comprehensive, local hazard analysis. Secondary to that was to examine the differences in Amish and non-Amish response to a tornado event in Indiana’s Homeland Security District 2 and formulate suggestions for tailoring local emergency management programs to this diverse community. / Department of Geography