National Weather Service confirms tornado touchdowns and damage in Delaware and Jay counties
This story has been updated.
Storm debris sits in the parking lot of Jay County Jr-Sr High School. Grace Jackson, Newslink Indiana
National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters have confirmed it was a tornado that caused damage in Delaware County near Yorktown Sunday night.
Meteorologist Earl Breon says photographic evidence shows tornado damage of, perhaps, an EF-zero tornado. Such storms feature winds between 65 to 85 miles per hour with short life spans.
No tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service, although tornado sirens came on in Muncie around 7:45 p.m.
Breon says rotating winds were on the ground but not high up in an attached thunderstorm, making detection by weather service radar difficult if not impossible. He says weather service radar scans start around 4,000 feet altitude and go up from there. Simple showers were present in the storm, but not severe weather such as hail or frequent lightning.
Delaware County Emergency management officials say public safety personnel reported what appeared to be a funnel cloud in western Delaware County, north of Yorktown in the Cammack area.
Delaware County EMA set off warning sirens, and later verified roof and partial structural damage to a large commercial building. WTHR-TV reports a building at TK Construction was severely damaged by the storm.
A tree was snapped at the trunk by a tornado in Portland on Sunday. Grace Jackson, Newslink Indiana.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service now says two tornadoes touched down in Jay County.
One that touched down in Portland and damaged – among other buildings – Jay County Jr-Sr High School has been rated an EF-1. That has maximum sustained winds of 110 miles an hour.
Jay School Corporation says the district is still assessing damage. Students were off Monday.
The National Weather Service says the second Jay County tornado touch down just east of the Salamonie River in a cornfield.
No injuries have been reported for these Sunday storms.
Additional reporting was contributed by Tony Sandleben.
Stan Sollars is IPR’s Morning Edition host and a senior lecturer in Ball State’s Department of Media. Contact him at stansollars@bsu.edu.
