The National Weather Service now says two tornadoes touched down in Delaware during the storm early Monday morning.
The F2 twister with 120 mph winds that damaged homes in the Laurel area was confirmed Monday afternoon. But National Weather Service Meteorologist Jonathan O’Brien says on Thursday his agency confirmed a second tornado.
He says each derived from the same circular cloud pattern called a mesocyclone.
“It produced the first one near Laurel and then that rotation weakened and kind of broadened out just back into that mesocyclone type structure and then it tightened up again and that’s when that second cyclone formed,” said O’Brien.
The second tornado was rated F1. It touched down near Harbeson and traveled 6 miles to the coast with top wind speeds estimated at 100 mph damaging some mobile homes and barns.
It’s not uncommon for Delaware to get one or two tornados in a year, but O’Brien says this storm was unusual.
“For the middle of April it’s unusual to have an organized severe weather outbreak so early in the season,” he said. “In addition to the tornados, there were a number of straight line wind damage reports. Just a very organized area of severe weather that moved through.”
O’Brien says the path of the first tornado has also been extended from six to nine miles.
The Delaware Emergency Management Agency Assessed the storm damage on Thursday. Officials say four buildings so far have been condemned as a result of Monday’s storm.
