SILVER LAKE – As residents are cleaning up from a “microburst,” Mark Frazier, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Webster, came to town Wednesday to answer questions about the storm.
The meeting was hosted by the Silver Lake Fire Department in order to provide answers to those with questions about the Friday storm, according to Silver Lake Fire Chief John Conley.
The storm, which officials are calling a mircoburst – a sudden, powerful, localized air current – uprooted trees and toppled at least one tree into a house.
Residents had two main concerns. One was that the storm was not a mircoburst, but rather a tornado; and second that the NWS didn’t issue a warning about the storm.
Frazier explained that wind, whether it’s a straight line or circular, can do a lot of damage.
“Wind is wind,” he said. He said during a mircoburst, winds can reach 120 mph.
Another concern raised by residents was how such a violent storm could hit without warning.
Frazier said the radar data didn’t show the correct indicators to issue a warning.
“It’s always a tough decision,” he said. If they warn residents too much, the people may not take the warnings seriously, he said.
Frazier said the NWS issued a tornado warning for northern counties. Once the warning passed, the NWS didn’t have any feedback of damage in the northern counties.
“If we don’t get that feedback, it’s hard to know what’s happening on the ground,” Frazier said.
Frazier took people through the National Weather Service website and showed them how they can submit damage reports. He also said people can like them on Facebook or Twitter to get easy access to communicate to the NWS.
Kosciusko County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock said when he called the NWS at 1 a.m. Saturday and suggested they examine the way they analyzed their data, the service responded that they had already done it.
“No matter what, we are always looking for ways to improve,” Frazier said.
Resident Cheryl Harmon, whose house was hit by an uprooted tree, said the explanations made sense, however, she thinks the storm was a tornado.
“I heard it. I lived it. It was a tornado,” she said.
