NWS confirms Walworth County tornadoes Tuesday: 'It was scary'

Stephanie Quirk

MILWAUKEE - A National Weather Service survey team confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Walworth County during Tuesday's severe weather.

An EF-1 tornado was confirmed near Darien with 90 mph winds, the NWS said, and an EF-0 was confirmed east of Sharon and west of Walworth with 80 mph winds. No injuries were reported.

"Two minutes couldn’t have passed, and we started to feed (the horses) and – bam," said resident Ed Anderson.

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Anderson said it happened in the blink of an eye. He and his wife were feeding their horses when an EF-1 tornado ripped through the Darien property they've owned for decades.

"You could just feel the pressure, and the sound – it sounded like a train," he said. "Everything was green. It was scary."

"One that crossed the state line down by Sharon, just southwest of Walworth, that was an EF-0 tornado," said Tim Halbach, Milwaukee NWS warning coordination meteorologist. "Tornado right by Darien, it was just very briefly on the ground."

While it was brief, Anderson says it was powerful. They are now left to pick up the damage – but also left with a new perspective.

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"One of the ladies that was taking a lesson earlier had left like 30 minutes before it hit," he said. "We were all riding, so it could’ve been much different. Lucky."

The tornado and intense winds were not the only results of Tuesday's storms. The NWS and FOX6 Weather Experts also tracked hail – some up to 1.5 inches in diameter – as well as rain, with several communities receiving close to two inches or more.

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