INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — 2019 was an active severe weather year across central Indiana. The entire state recorded 39 tornadoes for the year, which came in above the 20-year average of just under 25 tornadoes per year.

Some communities were hit pretty hard, like Rushville, Beech Grove and Pendleton. Structural and tree damage was widespread in many of these communities. News 8’s Avi8tor drone was up in the sky the day after the EF-1 Beech Grove tornado touched down and did significant damage to the high school.

In Pendleton, an EF-2 tornado ripped through the town, causing damage to several houses and cars. The most noticeable damage was in the heart of the town, at Falls Park. Several trees were uprooted, and much of the playground equipment was destroyed. A once beautiful centerpiece to this quiet town was left in shambles.

Fast forward to today. Several months have gone by, and Storm Track 8 checked in on the cleanup efforts. We took Avi8or up in Pendleton in February to get a birds-eye view of the park.

A lot has changed since that day, Memorial Day 2019. Brand new playground equipment was installed and a lot of landscaping has taken place over the last several months to help improve the park. But there’s still many scars that remain from that EF-2 tornado, like broken pieces of large trees that were knocked over. Some scars are going to take a little longer to heal after the tops of larger and older trees were completely ripped off.

The Storm Track 8 team’s goal is to keep Hoosiers safe during severe weather. That includes having the latest and most advanced tools on the market to help send alerts as early as possible when dangerous storms approach.

We now have brand new technology that we’re excited to be using as we approach severe weather season. The technology is called Baron Lynx, and it’s got some really useful tools that’s not only beneficial for meteorologists, but it helps to tell a more understandable story under very stressful situations during severe weather situations.

While Storm Track 8 still has the standard tools that are helpful during severe weather coverage, this updated technology now has the ability to more accurately identify circulation and possible tornado signatures with markers. In addition, there are several other exclusive features that see the damage path of storms, hail history and current hail size falling.