WOODLAND, Maine — Based on a video taken here Monday evening, the National Weather Service office in Caribou believes a tornado touched down at 5:47 p.m. in a wooded area of Woodland near the border of New Sweden.
“Right now it looks like it was a fairly brief tornado, but we will need an official survey first,” NWS Meteorologist Francis Kredensor said Tuesday morning.
A survey team from the weather service was investigating the tornado’s reported touchdown areas and assessing its path as well as any damage on Tuesday, he said.
According to Kredensor, all the photos sent in to the NWS seem to depict a wall cloud in northern Aroostook without any visual touchdown. But he said he did see a video of the tornado touching down.
“Based on the video, it looked like the tornado was on the weaker scale,” the meteorologist said. “An official rating will come out once the team has surveyed the damage.”
An NWS warning issued Monday evening alerted residents in that part of northern Aroostook of the storm moving east at 20 mph and the potential for a tornado.
Tornadoes are not a common occurrence in Aroostook, but they still appear on occasion, with the last one touching down in May 2014, according to the NWS.
“We’ve had several tornadoes up here,” Kredensor said. “They’re not very frequent or strong, but we do get them.”
Kredensor advises anyone caught in a tornado to seek shelter, ideally below ground.
“If you can’t go below ground, then go to a windowless interior room, and, if you can, take something soft for cushioning against debris.”