Ohio, 2002

Tornado in Ohio, May 8, 2002

May 8, 2002 · NWS RLX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Property damage
$3.5 million
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 2:00 PM EST, 3 hours 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 2:00 PM EST, 3 hours 7 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
300 PM EDT WED MAY 8 2002

CURRENT..(TONIGHT AND THURSDAY) FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL CONT TO MOVE
NORTHWARD THIS EVENING TAKING WITH IT THE RAIN.  OVERNIGHT NOT MUCH
GOING ON UNTIL COLD FRONT PUSHES THRU THURS AFT.  GUID POPS DIFFER A
TAD AND WILL GO WITH THE MAV POPS AS AVN ALONG WITH ETA HAS A GOOD
HANDLE ON THIS SYSTEM. GUID TEMPS ARE ON TRACK AND WILL STAY PRETTY
CLOSE TO THEM IN THE SHORT TERM.  WILL LET FFA EXPIRE AT 8 PM...WITH
NOTHING MAJOR EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVERNIGHT.  WE WILL LET THE
MIDNIGHT CREW DETERMINE WHETHER THEY NEED AN FFA FOR THURS.

EXTENDED (THU NIGHT-WED)...AVN/ETA SEEM TO BE A FAIRLY GOOD
AGREEMENT WITH TIMING ON FRONT EXIT THE CWA.  NGM IS SLOWER.  AT
THIS TIME HAVE GONE WITH FASTER TIMING BRING FRONT THROUGH LATE DAY
LEAVING A FEW LINGERING SHOWERS EXITING THE EASTERN COUNTIES BY 4Z.
ALSO EXPECT THE COOLER AIR TO FILTER PRETTY QUICKLY AND WITH LITTLE
WRAP AROUND MOISTURE HAVE TRENDED TOWARD AVN GUIDANCE.

HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FRIDAY.  BUT 850 TEMPS AROUND -4 TO -6 BY
THE END OF THE DAY THE MID TO UPPER 60S SEEMS TO BE THE BEST GUESS.

CLOUDS BEGIN TO INCREASE ON SATURDAY...12Z AVN IS FASTER WITH CLOUDS
AND RH THAN 00Z RUN.  WILL HOLD OFF ON PCPN UNTIL THE NIGHT TIME
HOURS...BUT WITH OVER RUNNING PCPN THE MODELS ARE OFTEN TOO SLOW TO
BREAK OUT PCPN.

THE WARM MOVES OVER THE REGION AND STALLS AS FRONT BECOMES PARALLEL
TO THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW.  WITH THE SURFACE WINDS STRONG OUT OF THE
SOUTH AND WAVES OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING ALONG THE FRONT SUNDAY THRU
MON...THE CHANCE FOR HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE.  WITH THE GROUNDS
ALREADY NEARLY SATURATED...EXPECT THAT SOME FLOODING WILL OCCUR WITH
THIS SYSTEM AS WELL.

COLD FRONT FINALLY CLEARS THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT...BRING A FEW DRY
DAYS FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK.  TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE FROM MEX
LOOKS TO BE REASONABLE.

.RLX...

WV...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 8 PM FOR ZONES
WVZ005>008...WVZ013>018...WVZ024>029...WVZ033>038...WVZ046>047.

VA...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 8 PM FOR ZONES VAZ003>004.

KY...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 8 PM FOR ZONES KYZ101>103...KYZ105.

OH...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 8 PM FOR ZONES OHZ083...OHZ086>087.

.END/JS/ES

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Gallia

When
May 8, 5:07 PM EST to 5:12 PM EST
Where
Gallia County, Adamsville
Rating
F2
Path length
3 mi
Path width
80 yd
Injuries
3 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$3.5 million
Reported by
NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates
38.867, -82.350

A warm frontal boundary interacted with a complex of showers and thunderstorms to form a tornado on the southern flank of the precipitation. Touchdown was along Adamsville Road near Route 35. The roof was ripped off a home, 2 mobile homes were destroyed, along with a pole barn. The tornado then struck both rest areas on Route 35. The rest building on the north side of the highway was severely damaged. At least 2 tractor trailers were flipped over, while others parked in the lot, were damaged. Another mobile home near the rest stop was destroyed. Proceeding just east to Dewey Road, the tornado wiped a modular home off its foundation. A trailer was destroyed at the corner of Kerr and Viney Roads. Down Kerr Road, a home had its roof removed and a mobile home was moved off its foundation. On Fairview Road, another mobile home was damaged. What was amazing and fortunate, in just about all the cases, no one was home when the tornado struck. Three people were injured at the rest stop.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Ohio in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Ohio, 2002Warnings in Ohio, May 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5291148.