NWS Meteorologists Confirm Three Tornadoes Across Indiana
STATEWIDE — Meteorologists confirmed three tornadoes touched down across Indiana during the storms on February 19th.
The latest confirmation came from Decatur County, where video evidence from storm chasers showed a brief touchdown west of Greensburg.
“Emergency officials down there were unable to determine any damage, and that’s the reason for the EFU rating being unknown,” Mike Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis said on Friday. “Without any damage, we can’t provide it a wind speed rating, so that’s what the EFU rating is for… was on the ground for maybe a minute or two, less than a mile.”
In addition to the Greensburg storm, the National Weather Service confirmed an EF0 tornado near Carlisle in Sullivan County and a much more powerful EF2 in Bloomington. All three tornadoes were spawned by the same parent storm system as it tracked across the state. The Bloomington tornado remains the most significant of the group with winds of 120 miles per hour.
“Part of the process when going through that, besides coming out and surveying ourselves, is collaborating and communicating with the county emergency managers where there’s damage,” Ryan stated.
At this point, the weather service believes the count is final, as no new reports of damage have surfaced in the days following the outbreak.
