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ATWOOD -ÊStorms that developed late Wednesday afternoon produced a tornado about two miles north of Atwood.
However, damage in the area was not caused by the funnel cloud that touched down briefly in a field around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
According to Chris Wamsley of National Weather Service Forecast Office in North Webster, damage to several trees around the Atwood and Clunette area was not caused by the tornado, but by "straight-line winds."
Straight-line winds are formed when rain shafts cause down drafts of wind that go to the ground and spread out. The down bursts caused winds of 60 to 65 miles per hour Wednesday, knocking down trees and causing damage.
"Trees and some cornstalks in fields were damaged from winds from the storm itself, not the tornado touch down," said Wamsley. "The damage was not caused by the funnel when it hit the ground."
The thunderstorms developed when a "lake breeze developed and numerous outflows interacted with one another," said Wamsley.
"There was no damage caused from the actual tornado, which was rated an F-0, the lowest you can get on the scale for tornadoes," said Wamsley. "Winds (within the tornado) were around 40 to 50 miles per hour. ... It was a very skinny rope-like tornado that touched down for maybe 10 seconds. It was very brief."
Wamsley was quick to point out that Wednesday's tornado is not one that usually comes to the public's mind.
"The tornado yesterday is not one that you see spawned from a supercell," said Wamsley. "Yesterday's tornado was very weak. In tornadoes spawned from supercells, winds produced can be more than 100 mph."
More isolated storms are possible today, especially where lake breeze boundaries meet land. Disturbances in the upper atmosphere move over, producing showers and storms.
Wamsley said that rainfall totals from the isolated showers would probably be between a quarter and a half inch since the storms are slow moving.
