2 tornadoes confirmed in Winnebago County

Shortly after 7 Tuesday night, Winnebago County reported its first tornado in more than a year.

"This is significant wind damage of over 70 mph and probably 80 mph," says Jef Last of the National Weather Service.

Jeff and several other employees of the National Weather Service visited the town of Winchester and nearby communities to determine whether the damage was caused by a tornado or straight line winds.

"Pretty much everything is in one direction from west southwest to east southeast," explains Last.

But that wasn't the case for all of the damage at one Winchester house.

When the National Weather Service surveys storm damage, one thing they look at is the direction in which the damage was spread. Some trees fell away from the Winchester house while a large tree fell towards the house.

This example is just one of the challenges in surveying weaker severe storms.

"In a strong tornado, the tornadic winds themselves can blow those large limbs around, but here where you are talking winds of around 80 mph or so, it's going to be the weight of the crown that causes it to fall," says Last.

But the storm survey isn't the only tool the weather service uses to make a determination.

Last adds, "The radar did indicate strong evidence of rotation."

But radar, didn't provide the only sign of rotation. This home video taken by a FOX 11 viewer shows what appears to be a tornado but may be a gustnado.

"A gustnado is a term we apply to a whirlwind - a ground based whirlwind - that is at the leading edge of a straight line wind," continues Last.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the weather service released a statement confirming 2 tornadoes. One was an EF0 in intensity while the other was an EF1 with estimated wind speeds of 90 mph.