According to a local emergency management official a F1 tornado with maximum wind speeds at approximately 90 mph struck in southwest Warren County at approximately 9:29 p.m. Friday evening, April 17.

The tornado was only on the ground for roughly three minutes. He said the tornado traveled from approximately 1.6 miles and covered an area approximately 50 feet wide, according to Warren County Emergency Management Director Mike Thornton. The tornado headed northeast from its starting location and only impacted trees, Thornton said. The tornado is what is called a quasi-linear convective systems (QLCS) tornado, which is different from a super-cell tornado, Thornton said.

“They (QLCS tornadoes) form along the leading edge of a thunderstorm and they are very brief,” Thornton said. “But in that brief amount of time they can do a lot of damage.”

Thornton added that QLCS tornadoes are difficult to detect on radar, but there was a debris drop on radar that suggested a tornado, causing a tornado warning to be issued.

Thornton said there was another area near Marthasville around the same time that was being looked at for a possible tornado, but it was determined that the debris field there was caused by straight-line winds. He added that the area was approximately one mile west of Marthasville on Highway 94 and that the National Weather Service would be ordering satellite data to be run on that area to confirm that it was a straight-line storm.

Thornton said Friday night was also the first activation of the newly formed incident support team, which was created in August 2025. He said that seven of the 16 total members of the volunteer squad were on hand Friday night and did “really well.”

He said there was a radio team and an emergency operations center information sharing team that was actively working with area first responders throughout the night from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m. Saturday morning.