MADISON (WKOW) -- Meteorologists from the National Weather Service spent all day Sunday in Dane and Columbia counties surveying damage left behind by Saturday's storms.
The NWS concluded it was likely an EF0 tornado that struck parts of east Madison, and Sun Prairie, while folks in Pardeeville fell victim to severe straight line winds.
The Meteorologists like Benjamin Shott the Meteorology Director for Milwaukee's National Weather Service branch say surveying is the first step in their investigation process.
"Typically when we have reports of a tornado, we do a survey starting from the beginning, and go all the way to the end of the damage path."
Shott says they then check the structural damage against studies and models that help them decide what kind of tornado may have hit the area.
"Once we get a chance to look at everything back to the office we'll be able to determine if it was either an EF0 or EF1," says Shott.
One of the most important things they want to impress upon people is regardless of whether the damage they survey was caused by a tornado or not, the storms that spawned the distruction are dangerous.
"Any high winds are dangerous, especially when you're talking 70, 80, or 100 mile per hour winds. Flying debris can easily become a missile hazard," says Shott.
Luckily, there have been no reports of injuries from the storms.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/36549657/2017/10/09/nws-surveys-damage-in-dane-and-columbia-counties-from-saturdays-destructive-storms