MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — National Weather Service Morristown's warning coordination meteorologist Anthony Cavallucci said the weather service should have issued a tornado warning in West Knox County on Monday.
On Tuesday, NWS said an EF2 tornado touched down in parts of West Knox County.
"We did not issue the warning," Cavallucci said. "In hindsight, we should have."
Cavallucci said people are sitting behind screens, watching radars, before deciding whether to issue a tornado warning. As the tornado in West Knox County was starting to form, the weather service issued a tornado warning in Greene County.
"It was a very active day," said David Hotz, a radar meteorologist. "Things were changing constantly."
Hotz said radar meteorologists are often scanning from storm to storm, trying to keep up with all of the movement. He said forecasters were worried about straight-line winds in the Monday storms.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning in parts of West Knox County on Monday and said a "tornado is also possible."
"We tried to tell people to get to the lowest level of your home and your business, take shelter from the storm," Cavallucci said.
Cavallucci said Knox County saw the only tornado in Tennessee on Monday. It's the only tornado in Knox County in August, since 1950.
"The nature of this particular storm is something that not only our office is going to look at, but other offices around the state and the storm prediction center," Cavallucci said. "Not many people want my job. They say they do, but they really don't want my job."
Cavallucci said he's happy nobody was seriously hurt in the storms on Monday.