NATCHEZ — Last week’s tornado brought 110 mph winds to Natchez — but it never brought the activation of the county’s warning sirens.

Adams County Civil Defense Director Stan Owens said while the county was under a tornado watch until late Tuesday night, an official tornado warning never came from the NWS.

“It was never issued,” Owens said of the warning. “But we definitely had some rotation.”

Owens said the NWS did issue a severe thunderstorm warning, however, that warning does not warrant the use of the sirens.

Owens said had the weather service issued the warning, or he had personally seen a funnel cloud, he would have activated the sirens.

“I wouldn’t hesitate for a second,” he said.

But that warning never came.

And Jackson’s NWS Warning Coordinator Meteorologist Stephen Wilkinson said based on radar readings during the storm, Tuesday’s storm did not warrant the issuance of such a warning.

“We simply did not see any of the signature indicators for tornados,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said those signature indicators, seen via radar, are shown in the form of different color airflows that can be viewed moving in opposite directions from one another.

But just because they weren’t seen doesn’t mean they weren’t there, Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said it’s possible that the tornado formed so low to the earth’s surface it could not be seen with radar.

The NWS radar is beamed out of Jackson and arcs upward as it moves from its source.

So by the time the radar gets to Natchez it’s possible that the radar had arced so high up that it moved over the tornado and could not send a reading, Wilkinson said.

Even though the tornado was not visible to the Weather Service’s radar, it was all too apparent for many Natchez residents.

After the storm, many across town swore the winds they heard during the storm could have only been made by a tornado.

The Weather Service didn’t verify the tornado until Tuesday, after they visited the city to review the damage left by the storm.