Palermo, Oswego County (WSYR-TV) - Meteorologists with the National Weather Service confirm the storm that hit Oswego County Monday night caused a tornado with winds between 70 and 80 mph.
The tornado struck around 8:25pm in East Palermo and had a maximum path width of 150 yards and traveled for approximately 1.6 miles, according to the preliminary report issued by the meteorologist who surveyed the damage.
Meteorologists with the government agency began their investigation in Oswego County before moving on to examine damage in Oneida County.
"When we first got here everything was pointing generally in this direction but then we look for the small things that may indicate something different and one thing I want to show you is this piece of tin in the tree is pointing in the opposite direction of everything else we've seen," National Weather Service Meteorologist Erik Heden said. "The fact that debris is pointing in multiple directions indicates rotating winds."
SLIDESHOW: Damaged caused by storm in Palermo
Crews surveyed the area around Jackson Road, where heavy damage was done to several structures. A barn on the grounds of a family farm on Jackson Road was destroyed in less than 10 seconds.
The Meldrim family witnessed their barn's destruction from the safety of their basement. Margaret Meldrim is certain she witnessed tight rotation in the clouds.
"And I saw the funnel, I actually saw the funnel cloud, it was huge," she said.
On Tuesday, the day after the storm, it was still sinking in for the Meldrims.
"You could just see debris everywhere and it was over and it was just quiet, we came outside and we couldn't believe the damage in such a short amount of time," Margaret Meldrim said.
Daylight revealed the true extent of the damage. Debris was scattered all over - some of it hundreds and even thousands of feet away.
Bruce Meldrim said the farm had taken "seven or eight years" of hard work. It took less than 10 seconds for that work to be destroyed. Meldrim added that many buildings nearby were left untouched.
"It's odd how it didn't touch a couple other buildings here, the house it did a little bit of roof damage, but not anything great, but it just took those two buildings and trashed them, and that's well built, trust me," he said.
One of the biggest problems with the damage to the barn is that the Meldrims were planning to start storing hay in it - hay they will use for their animals: horses and Scottish Highland cattle, which survived the storm unharmed.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Central Oswego County around 8:30pm Monday night. Doppler Radar had indicated a possible tornado in the area of Palermo, and local law enforcement saw what they believed were funnel clouds in the area. That storm moved east, toward Amboy, Cleveland and parts of Oneida County.
The National Weather Service received reports of trees and fences down, and the storm caused power outages across the area. National Grid crews were out through much of the overnight making repairs.
