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Size, speed of storm led to no Tornado Warnings for EF-1 tornadoes

By the time the storms made their way through the area, it was too dark for spotters to have any chance at seeing a tornado touch down.

Knowing a strong line of thunderstorms was on the way, Andy Ervin and the National Weather Service team were all hands on deck for a system they weren't taking lightly.

"The message we really wanted to bring across was that they would move at 60 to 70 miles per hour. That's awfully fast, and if you're waiting to hear thunder, you're not going to be giving yourself any time," Ervin said.

By the time the storms made their way through the area, it was too dark for spotters to have any chance at seeing a tornado touch down.

"We tried to find areas that had enhanced damage with that combined with some of our radar suggestions where there could've been a tornado," Ervin said.

During their damage survey, crews looked for downed trees or any building damage that wasn't too spread out. Ervin says the more compact the damage, the more likely it is that there was a tornado.

Based on what they found, the National Weather Service confirmed two EF-1 tornadoes, one in LeClaire and one in Geneseo. However, there was never a Tornado Warning issued. Ervin says that has more to do with the type of storm that went through and how quickly it left.

"The tornadoes tend to be short-lived. That's good because they don't have a long path, but the downside of that is the radar's ability and the meteorologist's ability to look at radar and see that and get a good lead time on that is not very strong," Ervin said.

Ervin says a stronger and longer-lasting storm would've likely called for a Tornado Warning. It was still a very dangerous situation, even if it lasted a matter of minutes.

Thursday was just the first day of their full damage survey.

National Weather Service- November 11th Storm Recap

Ervin says that starting Friday, they'll be heading further south closer to Missouri to see if any other spots may have damage consistent with a tornado.

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