How To Determine If A Tornado Hit Your Area

The National Weather Service has determined that several tornados ripped through our area on Friday including one in North Hamilton County.

On Monday we tagged along with a National Weather Service Meteorologist who showed us how they determine if a tornado has hit your area.

"When we were driving up you could tell there was a tree laying in that direction and a tree laying out to the west which would definitely indicate tornadic circulation," Tim Troutman, with the National Weather Service out of Morristown, says.

Troutman shows us where be believes an EF-1 tornado swept through Sale Creek on Friday.

"There are several trees that are snapped at about halfway up between ten and twenty feet and that would at least indicated based on the Enhanced Fujita Scale that we had winds of ninety miles an hour," Troutman says.

The National Weather Service tells us tornados normally hit in the Southwest corner of a storm system and strike on the backside of the same system.

When Troutman arrives on a scene like this he has to determine what kind of winds caused this damage. Straight Line Winds blow in one direction and knock trees down along the same path. Down Burst Winds occur when a thunderstorm collapses which shoots the wind towards the ground where they spread like a bomb. And then there are tornado winds, like those that hit Sale Creek, which twist, snap and snarl everything they touch.

"In a lot of cases they will grab the top of the trees and then flip them or sling them over so the larger trees in a lot of cases suffer more of the brunt of the damage," Troutman says.

We're told that tornados can completely uproot trees or just snap them in half but the way you can determine if a tornado has hit your area is by looking at the pattern of the trees that have been knocked over.

"They hit this tree the winds did and then the counter clockwise circulation moved in that direction and then smashed that tree and it has an opposite fall pattern compared to this one," Troutman says.

While the odds of a tornado slicing through your neighborhood are slim, Troutman says you should always have a severe weather safety plan.

"Now is the time to be prepared, now is the time to know what to do in the event that severe weather does strike," Troutman says.

The National Weather Service says it's important to have more than one way to get your storm warnings. For example if you typically watch television for your information then you should also have a battery powered weather radio as a backup plan. They also says you should keep a cell phone close by and always wear shoes just in case the storm hits your house.