Storm scary yes, but no tornado

Thursday, April 27, 2017
Courtesy photos No tornado passed through Putnam County on Wednesday evening, but that’s little solace to the Fillmore homeowners who lost their roof (left) to a tree damaged by high winds. The storm, which produce moderate to serious damage at various locations in the county, also produced a wall cloud with rotation near Putnam Park Road Course (right). The south and east portions of Putnam County were hit hardest by the storm.

All the right ingredients were there. Hail, hail and more hail. Winds clocked at greater than 70 mph. Wall clouds -- with that infamous rotation.

That’s a prime recipe for tornadic action. But the sum of those weather parts didn’t equal the whole on Wednesday night.

So thankfully, no tornadoes emerged from the scary storm that ripped through Putnam County about 7 p.m.

Courtesy photos

That’s the official word Thursday from Chris Edwards, Putnam County Emergency Management Agency severe weather specialist.

While Putnam County was the subject of the only Indiana tornado warning issued in the storm (southeastern Putnam, Owen and Morgan counties were included) at 6:45 p.m., no funnel clouds were officially spotted, Edwards told the Banner Graphic.

“A few people say they saw a funnel cloud,” Edwards said, dismissing those reports as not coming from trained observers or law enforcement officials.

“There are always ‘lookalike clouds,’” he added, explaining that clouds that tend to trail down from a wall cloud can often look like funnels but are not.

“Scary-looking clouds is what the Weather Service calls them,” he added.

Tornado, or not, Wednesday evening’s storm and straight-line winds caused plenty of tree damage, including an area around Reelsville. There and about a mile south of U.S. 40 nearly a fifth of the trees sustained severe damage or were uprooted, Edwards said, adding that some were snapped off several feet above the ground.

Meanwhile, multiple trees along Manhattan Road from U.S. 40 to Greencastle were blown over, mostly laid down in a northerly or northeasterly direction, an indication of the straight-line action.

Overall, the winds “were divergent,” Edwards said, which goes against tornadic development.”

He also noted that he tracked a wall cloud from U.S. 40 to near Belle Union, observing the rotation weaken as the storm went east and eventually died out in Hendricks County.

Structural damage was scattered. There were reports of a tree demolishing the roof of a house at Fillmore, while a metal chimney was blown down from a roof about a mile north of U.S. 40 on Manhattan Road and homes near the hospital suffered hail damage to their siding, Putnam EMA Capt. Russ Evans said.

Hail was described as an inch in diameter, or a little bigger than quarter-size, Edwards said.

Areas of Fillmore had so much hail on the ground at one time, the severe weather specialist, that it created fog when the ice-covered ground and humid air collided.

Power outages were also part of the storm story with 16 homes in Greencastle’s Northwood Subdivision without power from 8 p.m. Wednesday until 2 p.m. Thursday due to a tree or limbs reportedly damaging Duke Energy equipment.

One of the 911 radio towers also took a lightning strike during the storm that briefly affected some communication. Fortunately, Edwards said, tornado sirens were activated for the affected warning area right before that outage occurred.

Meanwhile, a transformer reportedly exploded during the storm Wednesday evening, also knocking out power lines but creating a traffic nightmare Thursday.

The incident necessitated U.S. 231 South being closed south of Veterans Memorial Highway most of the day Thursday as crews worked to replace an electric transformer between County Roads 300 South and 350 South. INDOT originally estimated the closure would last until mid-morning, but it took instead until mid-afternoon to rectify the situation.

Meanwhile, the scary news today is that the Weather Service is saying there actually is a better chance for severe storms occurring late Friday afternoon into Friday night, Edwards reported, than there was for such activity on Wednesday night.

The best chance for tornadic development, he warned, will be along a warm front and just south of it in the enhanced risk area.

Or ... right where Putnam County lies.

Comments
View 2 comments
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • There were trained observers who witnessed the funnel cloud.

    -- Posted by Falcon9 on Fri, Apr 28, 2017, at 10:46 AM
  • I live south of Reelsville. I am not a trained spotter. When I see clouds moving very fast to the east south of me, and clouds moving fast to the north right above me, that is sign of rotation in the clouds. I saw that rotation in Reelsville last Wednesday evening. Very scary storm indeed!

    -- Posted by Countryguy on Mon, May 1, 2017, at 6:04 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: