FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Two rounds of strong to severe storms moved through the area on the evening of March 31st. The first round moved through in the afternoon, with the second round later in the evening after 6:00 p.m. Clusters of storms produced wind gusts over 50 mph and quarter-sized hail. Up to 3″ of rain was recorded in some areas with the heavy rain these storms brought in. One tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service southeast of Hicksville, Ohio. Read about the tornado here: Tornado confirmed in Defiance County, Ohio
Many took pictures and videos of what they thought were tornadoes in Fort Wayne and Huntington, but these were determined to simply be clouds. These clouds form in the presence of a thunderstorm and are referred to as scud clouds. They often appear finger-like reaching down from the cloud.
The clouds form when warm, moist air is rising in a thunderstorm updraft and the water vapor condenses. The important thing to recognize with these clouds is the lack of rotation. These clouds are typically unattached to a larger thunderstorm cloud base and are low hanging. Another distinguishing factor, is whether there are debris in the air at the surface of the cloud base. A debris cloud will be present in the event of a tornado…