5 tornadoes confirmed in Newton, Jasper counties on Wednesday
By Carrie Napoleon Post-Tribune correspondent May 26, 2011 2:18PM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
Five tornado tracks were confirmed in Newton and Jasper counties Wednesday by the National Weather Service Chicago office and weather officials were investigating the possibility of two or three more.
Eric Lenning, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Chicago office, said all five tornado tracks were from “short little brief spin-ups” mostly falling in the EF1 category of storms with winds ranging from 86 to 110 mph.
The strongest of the storms hit Brook around 9:30 a.m. near Indiana 55 and County Road 600S and was rated on the low end of the EF2 category that ranges from 111 to 135 mph.
“We don’t think it exceeded more than 118 mph,” Lenning said.
The tornado in Brook tossed a 150-pound auger about 150 yards. It also tossed a grain bin a couple hundred yards and knocked down about 10 wooden power poles.
In Rensselaer, around the same time, one of the tornadoes touched down just south of the College of St. Joseph and ended east of Rensselaer Central High School. A second storm was identified near Indiana 114 and County Road 850W.
The third twister touch down briefly between Mount Ayr and Rensselaer and a fourth tornado he described as a “teeny little one” was confirmed just west of Morocco.
Lenning said the storms were short-lived and had very narrow west-to-east tracks placing them all on the low end of tornados. There was no significant damage reported.
“We did have a couple others reported so that number may climb,” Lenning said.
The National Weather Service is still investigating storms near Goodland and Francesville that may also be considered tornadoes.
Meanwhile, the weather service said at least five tornadoes struck southern Indiana during a wave of severe storms Wednesday that injured at least 34 people in Monroe and Bartholomew counties.
Survey crews Thursday determined two EF-2 tornadoes hit, one striking east of Bedford and the other in Huntingburg. Crews also determined three EF-1 twisters struck: one in Greensburg, one hitting at a mobile home park near Bloomington and a third in Haysville in Dubois County. AP contributed
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