Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 75

March 26, 202667 counties in Ohio; 14 counties in Pennsylvania; 5 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 26, 2026, 4:52 PM EDT for 67 counties in Ohio; 14 counties in Pennsylvania; 5 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 26, 2026, 4:52 PM EDT (20:52 UTC)
Expired
Mar 26, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 86 counties

Allen County, OH, Ashland County, OH, Ashtabula County, OH, Auglaize County, OH, Belmont County, OH, Carroll County, OH, Champaign County, OH, Clark County, OH, Columbiana County, OH, Coshocton County, OH, Crawford County, OH, Cuyahoga County, OH, Darke County, OH, Defiance County, OH, Delaware County, OH, Erie County, OH, Fairfield County, OH, Fayette County, OH, Franklin County, OH, Fulton County, OH, Geauga County, OH, Greene County, OH, Guernsey County, OH, Hancock County, OH, Hardin County, OH, Harrison County, OH, Henry County, OH, Holmes County, OH, Huron County, OH, Jefferson County, OH, Knox County, OH, Lake County, OH, Licking County, OH, Logan County, OH, Lorain County, OH, Lucas County, OH, Madison County, OH, Mahoning County, OH, Marion County, OH, Medina County, OH, Mercer County, OH, Miami County, OH, Monroe County, OH, Montgomery County, OH, Morrow County, OH, Muskingum County, OH, Noble County, OH, Ottawa County, OH, Paulding County, OH, Pickaway County, OH, Portage County, OH, Preble County, OH, Putnam County, OH, Richland County, OH, Sandusky County, OH, Seneca County, OH, Shelby County, OH, Stark County, OH, Summit County, OH, Trumbull County, OH, Tuscarawas County, OH, Union County, OH, Van Wert County, OH, Wayne County, OH, Williams County, OH, Wood County, OH, Wyandot County, OH, Allegheny County, PA, Armstrong County, PA, Beaver County, PA, Butler County, PA, Clarion County, PA, Crawford County, PA, Erie County, PA, Fayette County, PA, Greene County, PA, Lawrence County, PA, Mercer County, PA, Venango County, PA, Washington County, PA, Westmoreland County, PA, Brooke County, WV, Hancock County, WV, Marshall County, WV, Ohio County, WV, Wetzel County, WV

The radar

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:53 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
60%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

34 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 26, 5:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEAshtabula, Trumbull25 min
Mar 26, 5:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLELucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Wood43 min
Mar 26, 5:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford33 min
Mar 26, 6:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLETrumbull40 min
Mar 26, 6:34 PM EDTTornado WarningCLETrumbull26 min
Mar 26, 6:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXFulton, Williams25 min
Mar 26, 6:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEMedina, Portage, Summit32 min
Mar 26, 6:43 PM EDTTornado WarningPBZLawrence, Mercer17 min
Mar 26, 6:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXDefiance, Fulton, Henry, Williams50 min
Mar 26, 7:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEPortage39 min
Mar 26, 7:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLELucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Wood46 min
Mar 26, 7:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXHenry, Putnam21 min
Mar 26, 7:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEHancock, Lucas, Sandusky, Seneca, Wood, Wyandot49 min
Mar 26, 7:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNAuglaize, Darke, Mercer, Shelby46 min
Mar 26, 7:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXAllen, Putnam, Van Wert46 min
Mar 26, 7:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEGeauga, Portage, Trumbull39 min
Mar 26, 7:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECuyahoga, Erie, Huron, Lorain, Ottawa, Sandusky and 1 more42 min
Mar 26, 8:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEHolmes, Wayne28 min
Mar 26, 8:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford, Hancock, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Richland and 3 more54 min
Mar 26, 8:07 PM EDTTornado WarningILNAuglaize, Darke, Mercer, Shelby38 min
Mar 26, 8:10 PM EDTTornado WarningCLEHolmes20 min
Mar 26, 8:11 PM EDTTornado WarningCLECrawford, Marion, Morrow, Wyandot34 min
Mar 26, 8:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNAuglaize, Hardin, Logan, Shelby, Union42 min
Mar 26, 8:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNDarke, Preble40 min
Mar 26, 8:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZCarroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Tuscarawas51 min
Mar 26, 8:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatILNAuglaize, Darke, Logan, Mercer, Shelby48 min
Mar 26, 8:38 PM EDTTornado WarningCLEKnox, Morrow, Richland52 min
Mar 26, 8:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNChampaign, Clark, Darke, Logan, Miami, Montgomery and 2 more51 min
Mar 26, 9:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZCoshocton, Guernsey, Muskingum, Tuscarawas40 min
Mar 26, 9:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZCarroll, Harrison, Jefferson44 min
Mar 26, 9:38 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZBelmont, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Muskingum, Noble and 1 more35 min
Mar 26, 9:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZAllegheny3 hr
Mar 26, 9:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny, Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland38 min
Mar 26, 10:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZBelmont, Guernsey, Monroe, Muskingum, Noble47 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 182 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2026-03-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2026-03-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 165 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1553 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
289 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 26, 3:48 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDarke, Defiance, Mercer, Paulding, Van Wert, Williams117 min
Mar 26, 4:25 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont and 61 more95 min
Mar 26, 7:40 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Ashland, Auglaize, Carroll, Champaign, Clark and 32 more95 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2026Tornado Watches in Pennsylvania, 2026Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.