STEUBEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado did occur in Steuben County Tuesday evening.

The twister touched down in an open field around 6:11 PM Tuesday about two miles north of Silver Lake. It was only on the ground for approximately 0.04 miles. No damage was observed from the tornado, which is the good news.

  • A tornado of unknown intensity occurred Tuesday evening near Silver Lake.
  • It touched down in an open field and did not cause any damage.

Because no damage was found though, this tornado receives an EF-U (Unknown) rating. This is the first tornado to receive this rating locally since a twister in Van Wert County in August of 2021. This tornado rating is common when there is no damage, as the weather service is unable to determine the tornado’s wind speed. In order for the strength of a tornado to be estimated, damage indicators need to be identified and this cannot be done when there is damage to just the grass or crops in an open field. However, there is the potential for this rating to change in the future as more damage indicators are identified.

This is why this tornado received an EF-U (Unknown) rating.

This tornado is one of a couple possible tornadoes the National Weather Service is currently surveying. Another tornado has been confirmed in Paulding County. This was an EF-1 tornado. You can click this link to read more about it. There may be additional tornadoes confirmed in this area, so stay tuned for updates. There’s also a chance southeast Allen County did in fact experience a tornado before the thunderstorm produced one in Paulding County. Additionally, we’re watching eastern Jay County to see if one touched down before exiting into Mercer County. Below is a snapshot of the storm reports from Tuesday.

Here are all the storm reports from Tuesday evening in/around our area.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on National Weather Service survey findings.