Boone County issued tornado warning after reports of funnel clouds
BOONE COUNTY (WISH) — Reports of funnel clouds led to a tornado warning in Boone County, but that warning didn’t come from the National Weather Service.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office alerted people in town about the possibility of a tornado forming over Interstate 65 in the Lebanon area.
The tornado sirens went off around 11:30 a.m. Friday. Some people living in downtown Lebanon thought it was just another weekly test, but that wasn’t the case.
The tornado siren near Meridian and Washington streets in Lebanon is quiet for now, but that wasn’t the case Friday morning.
“I was getting ready to start my dad, getting ready to run some errands through town and I heard the sirens go off,” said Clint Jones, resident. “I opened the door and I heard them a little louder.”
Clint Jones has lived in town all of his life. He said he knew the sirens would go off every Friday afternoon for a test. But that blaring sound came a little too early this week.
“My fiancé came home, she said, ‘don’t worry about it, it’s Friday,’” said Jones. “I looked at her and said, well, something wasn’t up so then I was kind of little leery.”
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office said this all started after dispatch received a call for some funnel clouds.
“Our communications officers were able to get on our cameras that we have here on the property and actually see some of these funnel clouds that were starting to go down towards the ground,” said Major Brian Stevenson, Boone County Sheriff’s Office.
Photos and video quickly popped up across social media.
“You know they started out being really skinny and then there were a few of them getting larger and larger on their way down,” said Stevenson. “So that’s when training kicked in and I started thinking what are we going to do if it gets down to the ground.”
Major Brian Stevenson said he and several other officers went outside of the jail and saw anywhere between three to four rotating clouds.
“We have the policy that if we see funnel clouds that are trying to get down to the ground and become a tornado then we go ahead and start notifying people right then rather than waiting until it gets on the ground,” said Stevenson.
Stevenson said they went ahead and issued a tornado warning for people living in that area. 24-Hour News 8 learned that 38 tornado sirens in the county and 15 in the city of Lebanon went off.
But Stevenson said those funnel clouds never touched the ground.
“Everyone needs to know that we would rather be safe than sorry,” said Stevenson. “Even if it’s a small event and it doesn’t touch the ground yet so we want people to be prepared so they can take care of themselves and their families in the event that it gets worst.”
Stevenson said his office has already contacted the National Weather Service about the funnel clouds. NWS issued a statement:
“The Lebanon funnel formed within a rain shower updrafted fed by northeast winds on its north side and southwest winds on its south side. These opposite direction winds are creating weak spin along this boundary and may produce more funnels early.