Cleanup continues in Ontario County after a confirmed EF2 tornado struck on Monday evening in Phelps. According to officials, it's the strongest tornado recorded in the state so far this year.

The Ontario County Sheriff's Office says one person was hurt, but winds tore the roof of two homes and pushed a barn off its foundation.  

The site of the tornado is also where the National Weather Service says there is a gap in weather radar. 

So, when the tornado blew through Phelps for about 10 minutes at 115 miles per hour – it was undetectable on radar. 

Science and operations officer Matthew Brothers described the radar system used by the NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He says the Phelps area is close to the center of the three radars (Buffalo, Binghamton and Montague) – a spot where low-level radars cannot read. Only higher radar above 6,000 feet can reach Phelps. 

“Yeah, so that’s the lowest elevation we can see out in the Phelps area," Brothers said.  

But Brothers says at that level there can be indications of a tornado that could prompt an alert or a warning.

“And with radar, we’re sampling the thunderstorm above and the rotation higher up in the thunderstorm to how that relates to the potential to produce a tornado down by the surface," he said.  

And there was little opportunity for warning.

“In this case, with the storm, we had a really quick and fast-growing thunderstorm, that then quickly produced this tornado," he said. "So, it was kind of just a quick pop-up, that was able to produce these notable damages relatively quickly.” 

“Unfortunately, we are at the fringes of what science can detect at the range from all the radars in this location," the National Weather Service said. "Sometimes we can get indications of things, other times the beam is simply too high to give reliable detection of these events. Our beams are over a mile off the ground in this area, making detection very difficult, especially for a storm that only tracks a short distance on the ground as this one did.”

Brothers added that while the National Weather Service is always looking to improve systems and coverage.  

“We have people here 24/7 monitoring the weather, the radar, the satellite data and trying to do the best we can to keep the community safe," Brothers said.

Brothers says the National Weather Service has a network of authorities that are spaced out across the country to provide the best coverage they can.  

"So, they are strategically placed at this time to provide the best coverage they can," he said. 

Brothers and his team are sending a message in hopes of keeping communities safe. 

"I just want to make sure everyone knows that it's important to stay informed and have multiple sources of weather information, to receive alerts about hazardous weather coming your way and identify an action plan in your local community or within your family," he said. "If you receive a weather alert, what actions you will take in order to protect yourself from any hazardous conditions?" 

The National Weather Service says the path width of the tornado was about 300 yards at its largest point. 

Many structures were damaged and plenty of trees in the area were snapped and uprooted.