03-04-2025
National Weather Service is 'sure' a tornado hit Vanderburgh County on Wednesday
EVANSVILLE – The National Weather is "sure" a tornado of some kind ripped through Vanderburgh County during a barrage of storms Wednesday night.
During a conference call Thursday morning, lead forecaster Justin Gibbs with the Paducah, Kentucky-based office said radar captured a "tornado debris signature" in parts of the city and county. That's when pieces of dirt or other detritus get thrown into the air and show up on radar. It's often a sign a tornado has touched down.
It's too early to say how big the suspected twister may have been.
"The intensity of which we'll evaluate, but it may be several days," Gibbs said.
He didn't specify which storm the signature came from. Vanderburgh County fell under multiple tornado warnings Wednesday. One particularly strong storm charged in from Southern Illinois and sliced across the northwestern parts of the county around 8 p.m. About an hour later, a similar storm cut an almost identical path. And then there was a bowing wall of straight-line winds that wrecked portions of the Southeast Side.
Judging from the damage found by Courier & Press reporters, it was likely one of the first two. Downed power lines, uprooted trees and fallen branches littered roadways in the northern locales of Vanderburgh.
The highway department reported at least 20 road closures due to debris and damage Thursday morning, all of which were to the north or west. Those included Mesker Park Drive north of Diamond Avenue and portions of Harmony Way and Red Bank Road, among others. University Parkway and Big Cynthiana Road weren't among the list of closures, but properties along them took some hard hits, too.
Luckily, Wednesday was likely the peak for severe weather in the Tri-State this week, Gibbs said. Unluckily, we're still days away from escaping danger. Potentially historic amounts of rain could pummel the area between now and Saturday evening.
As of Thursday, Gibbs expected an additional 6-8 inches to fall on Evansville before it's all said and done. That will be on top of the .86 inches the city got in a matter of hours Wednesday night. Normally in April, the city gets about one inch a week.
It could lead to potentially "catastrophic" flash flooding, the NWS said. That's especially a concern Saturday, when a giant system is expected to loiter over the area and lash us with rain.
Thursday morning brought us a few dry hours: a welcome reprieve that could make a difference before the heavier rainfall arrives.
"But we're gonna have to be on alert pretty much constantly for the next couple days," Gibbs said.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Did a tornado hit Evansville on Wednesday?
