UPDATED Thursday, May 6th:  It’s official!  Two tornadoes touched down in Winnebago County Tuesday.  According to surveyers from the National Weather Service…One had wind speeds of 90 mph (EF1 on the Enhance Fuita Scale) and touched down 5.6 miles west of Larsen, traveled about a mile on the ground and was 150  yards wide.   The second had wind speeds of 80 mph(EF 0), a path length of 3.3 miles and touched down 3.4 miles southwest of Larsen.  FOX 11 Meteorologist Andrew Thut followed along with the NWS officials to assess the damage and told me it wasn’t a slam dunk call because the damage pattern wasn’t typical of a tornado.  Most of the damage was in a west to east line which could indicate strong straight-line winds.  His story explains why the storms were classified tornadoes.

Wed. May 5th, 2010: Lots of you were probably doing the same thing I did last night when I heard the tornado siren…heading into the basement with the family.  The siren in Green Bay went off while I was reading a book to the boys, Jake and Henry.  Even though the last time I checked the storms were to the south, I wasn’t about to take any chances and after gathering up a sleeping 5 month old I told them it was time to go downstairs.  Jake was asking if this was a drill like at pre-school and I tried to calm him down and told him there was a TV in the basement and we would check on the storms on FOX 11.  Sure enough Patrick was on live talking about a line of storms to the south and we were able to head upstairs.  Jake still wanted to sit close to me though…said he felt safer when he had his hand on my knee.

If you’re wondering why the sirens went off all over the county…the warning sirens are not controlled by the National Weather Service; they are set off by Emergency Management Personnel or other officials.  This way if they get a report from a credible source of a tornado or funnel cloud, they have the option of letting the sirens blow for safety sake.

There was one reported tornado touch down near Winchester in Winnebago County at 7:12 pm yesterday.  Angela Kelly talked with a gentleman who says he was lifted off the ground a bit by the strong winds…you have to hear his amazing story. 

FOX 11 Text Alerts work.  I have read so many Facebook friends’ comments about how they were out and about when the tornado warning was issued and I really urge you to sign up for FOX 11 Severe Weather text alerts.  Remember that you’ll be charged a fee if you are normally charged for receiving text messages BUT the alert form lets you mark which county you would like to receive alerts from.  So even if you are charged 20 cents for a text message, it may be worth it to know when your county has a tornado blowing in. (Okay I realize I ended 2 sentences in a row with a preposition.)

Find me on Facebook/Pete Petoniak and Twitter/petepetoniak

That severe weather threat we talked about here on FOX 11 Friday came true as 3 tornadoes impacted Green Lake County. 

3 Tornadoes Affected Green Lake County on Friday

The strongest one (rated EF1 on the “Enhanced Fujita Scale”) had winds speeds of 100 to 110 mph when it touched down about 3.5 miles southeast of Berlin.  Damage  included high tension power poles snapped; tree uprooted and minor damage to a barn.  A couple EF0 tornadoes started in Marquette County and ended in Green Lake County with wind speeds o 65 to 70 mph.  The National Weather Service in Milwaukee surveyed the damage and has a complete report including pictures and what the radar looked like.

The sky is falling: I’ve seen some friends on Facebook have mentioned meteor sightings from Friday night.  I thought I even saw one this  morning while I was driving to work.  There weren’t any big meteor showers expected lately but I’ll have to put in a call to Alan Peche at the Barlow Planetarium and get the latest.

A man-purse?: After much discussion on Facebook concerning what I should carry my stuff in (“stuff” (defn)-ipod, blackberry, eyeglass case, eats, etc.) I’ve gone with a messenger bag

It’s official…3 tornadoes touched down in the state on Monday from the severe weather that pushed through late in the day.  Two were in the far southwestern part of the state in Crawford County and Lafayette counties and one was in Marquette and Green Lake County.  That one was rated an EF-1 with maximum wind speeds of 95 mph. Patrick shows the path and had other details and Andrew showed the damage left behind. 

If you’ve ever wondered how the National Weather Service makes a determination about how fast the winds are in a tornado, we ran a great story on the show this morning.  It shows what a meteorologist looks for in the damage  to figure out how to rate the tornado and if in fact it even was a tornado. The one that went through Marquette and Green Lake County was rated a EF-1 which has wind speeds of 95 mph.

I got a chance to talk to members of the New Holstein High School baseball team this morning on Good Day Wisconsin.  They’re playing in the state tournament this morning and I was impressed with their spirit and character.  Good luck to the Huskies.  Win or lose they’ve had a great season!

FAMILY: Henry my 3-year-old is now going on the potty…finally! I think it’s cute when he says, “I went pee on my potty” at home but not so much when he yells it when we’re out in public.  Yes we’re very proud of the boy.  He even went #2 yesterday. Yippee.  I was afraid Henry would be wearing a diaper when he was 35 which would not be a good look for him.

Have a great day!