National Weather Service confirms tornado touchdowns and damage in Delaware and Jay counties
This story has been updated.
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.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service forecast office in North Webster covering northern Indiana said late Sunday night, “Reports of damage were received in the Portland area shortly after 8 pm. A tornado has been confirmed in this area, with damage reported to the Jay County Jr-Sr High School as well as some tree and structure damage in the general area.”
No rating of the tornado has been determined, with a survey planned Monday of the area and updates coming later in the day.
Katie Clark, the director of eLearning for the Jay School Corporation, said Jay Schools are be closed Monday with no e-learning or remote learning. The district says its phones are currently not working.
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.