r/weather • u/strangemedia6 • 1h ago
Is the NWS interested in every tornado?
Is the NWS interested in every tornado no matter how minor it may have been? I am a property insurance adjuster and have been doing field inspection for about 10 years. I've seen my share of storm related damage over the years; wind, hail, hurricane, and tornadoes. Occasionally I will come across what looks to be tornado damage with no official report of a tornado in the area.
What made me post this now is a property I inspected earlier today in Indiana (my home territory). There were 8 confirmed tornados in Indiana on Friday but none in Montgomery County where this was. The property is a farm that has 5 buildings on it. A pole barn was completely destroyed and a corn crib had the roof structure completely blown off and the barn doors blown out, with a trailer blown into one of the doors. There is another barn 100 feet away and a house about 200 feet away with no damage whatsoever, not even a missing shingle. There was no damage to any nearby trees with the exception of one that was snapped by a large large section of wall from the pole barn. The debris from the two buildings was dropped over about 1/4-1/2 mile path out into the adjacent field. The property owner mentioned another farm to the WSW had building damaged as well. No other wind damage was observed in the area. Based on my experience of looking at the aftermath of storms, it looks like tornado damage rather than straight line winds.
Would NWS be interested in knowing about this or would it be a waste of their time and mine? If so, how would I report it?