Flood in Ohio, January 1 to 15, 2005

Name: Flood in Ohio, January 1 to 15, 2005
Start: 2005-01-01T07:00
End: 2005-01-15T15:00
Location: Ohio

January 1 to 15, 2005 · NWS CLE · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: 0
Property damage: $1.8 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 happened

The episode as NWS CLE wrote it up.

Heavy rain and runoff from snowmelt caused widespread lowland flooding in Sandusky County during the first half of January. The worst flooding in the county occurred along the Portage and Sandusky Rivers. Flooding along the Portage River at Woodville was the worst since the late 1970s. The river went above the 9 foot flood stage on January 1st and remained in or just below flood into the 16th. Major flooding occurred in Woodville with a crest of 14.25 feet early on January 14th. Significant damage was done to homes along Riverside Drive and Water, South, Erie, Bridge, Cherry and Spring Streets. The Sandusky River went into flood on January 6th and remained either in flood or just below flood through the 15th. At Fremont, the river crested at 12 feet on the 13th. At Tiffin, the river crested at 9.58 feet on on the 7th. For the most part, flooding along the river was confined to low lying areas, but a few homes and businesses in both Tiffin and Fremont were damaged by flooding. Significant flooding was also reported in Clyde on January 11th through the 13th. Flood waters in portions of the city came within 12 inches of exceeding the 100 year flood plain. January 2005 was among the wettest January's on record with 5.99 inches measured at Tiffin and 6.55 inches measured at Fremont. In addition to this rain, extensive snowpack existed over Sandusky County at the beginning of the month. Temperatures in the 40s and 50s the first three days of the month caused a rapid snowmelt and brought area streams and creeks to bankfull just in time for a significant winter storm on the 5th and 6th. Then, just as things began to return to normal, heavy rains fell on the area on the 11th, 12th and 13th causing conditions to once again worsen. Hundreds of homes in the county sustained damage from river, basement or nuisance flooding. Several streets were closed by flooding in Woodville with over a dozen roads closed elsewhere in the county.

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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 1, 3:25 AM EST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 1, 3:25 AM EST, 3 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OHIO
325 AM EST SAT JAN 1 2005

.SHORT TERM (TODAY THRU SUN)...
AS THE NEW YEAR RACES WEST...A COLD FRONT CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING. COLDER AIR IS BEGINNING TO
SLIP SOUTHEAST INTO THE FORECAST AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST.  I AM
EXPECTING TEMPERATURES TO BE IN THE 30S FOR MUCH OF THE DAY IN THE
EXTREME NORTHWEST AND NEARLY STEADY IN THE LOWER 40S ELSEWHERE
TODAY.

SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A LOT OF THE LOW STRATUS SLIPPING SLOWLY
SOUTH WITH CLEARING SKIES WORKING INTO THE FORECAST AREA IN THE
NORTHWEST. THICKENING CIRRUS AND CIRROSTRATUS CLOUDS ARE BEGINNING
TO MOVE INTO THE AREA SO I FEEL WE WILL SEE AN INCREASE IN CLOUD
COVER WHERE IT IS CURRENTLY CLEAR TODAY AND BE FOR THE MOST PART
MOSTLY CLOUDY ELSEWHERE.

THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY THIS
AFTERNOON OVER SOUTHERN OHIO.  THE FRONT WILL THEN MOVE BACK NORTH
TONIGHT AS A WARM FRONT AND BRING ANOTHER SWATH OF RAIN TO THE AREA.
WILL GO ALONG WITH HPC THINKING THAT GFS APPEARS TO BE THE BEST
SOLUTION FOR THE WAVES OF PRECIPITATION EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE
FORECAST AREA OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.  PRECIPITATION WILL BE THE
RESULT OF A SERIES OF LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS TRACKING EAST NORTHEAST
TOWARD THE AREA.

WILL MENTION A CHANCE OF RAIN OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST
AREA FOR THE FIRST HALF OF TONIGHT AND GO LIKELY POPS FOR THE
WESTERN HALF. THEN...FLIP THE POPS AROUND AND GO LIKELY EAST HALF
AFTER MIDNIGHT AND CHANCE WEST HALF WITH WARM FRONTAL PASSAGE.
THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT AT THE ONSET OF PRECIPITATION THE
CHANCE OF RAIN COULD BE FREEZING RAIN OVER SOUTHERN ERIE AND
CRAWFORD COUNTIES TONIGHT AS COLD AIR HAS A BETTER CHANCE TO
FILTER INTO THAT AREA THIS EVENING. TEMPERATURES DROP TO NEAR THE
FREEZING MARK AND DEW POINTS TO THE UPPER 20S.  THEN AS WARM AIR
ADVECTION BEGINS TO TAKE PLACE DURING THE NIGHT...PRECIPITATION WILL
BE ALL RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

COLD FRONT IS PROGGED TO MOVE EAST ACROSS THE AREA SUNDAY NIGHT AND
ALLOW HIGH PRESSURE TO EXTEND A RIDGE INTO THE AREA.  THIS TO WILL
BE SHORT LIVED AS ANOTHER WAVE MOVES NORTHEAST ALONG THE COLD FRONT
FORCING THE FRONT BACK NORTH AS A WARM FRONT MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

&&

.LONG TERM (MON THRU FRI)...
ABOVE NORMAL HEIGHTS CONTINUE THRU THU ACROSS THE OH VLY. LOOKS LIKE
A WARM FRONT MAY TRY TO BECOME STNRY ACROSS THE REGION MON-THU. THIS
MAY CAUSE A DECENT AMT OF RAINFALL ACROSS THE REGION THRU THE
EXTENDED. IN FACT...THE 12Z GFS HAS 1.5-3 INCHES OF RAINFALL IN THE
48 HOURS ENDING 12Z WED. SO...IT LOOKS LIKE A WET PERIOD RIGHT THRU
THURSDAY IF THE GFS VERIFIES. DGEX HAS THE WARM FRONT WELL TO THE
N...BUT THE OTHER MED RANGE MODEL SOLN DO NOT AGREE. GFS HAS A COOL
FRONT MOVING THRU THU...BUT TEMPS ON THE BACK SIDE ARE STILL NOT
THAT COLD. OVERALL...A WARM AND WET FIRST WEEK OF THE NEW YEAR. WILL
CONTINUE A DRY FCST MON WITH HIGH PRES OVER THE AREA. WARM FRONT
BUILDS BACK N TUE WITH THE GFS SHOWING IT BECMG STNRY OVER OH TUE
AND WED. HIGHEST POPS TUE/WED. TEMPS WELL ABV NORMAL MON-WED...THEN
COOL BACK TO NORMAL BY FRI AS THE COLD FNT MOVES THRU.
&&

.AVIATION (06Z-06Z)...
CDFNT MOVG INTO NW OH AND AMS WILL TRY TO DRY OUT. CDFNT WL MOV E OF
CWA BY 12Z. FOG MAY OCCUR UNTIL THE LOWER DEWPOINTS GET IN. FOR THE
MOST PART VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD OCCUR AFT FROPA. THE NEXT BATCH OF
RAIN WILL BEGIN TO MOVE IN AFT 02Z.
&&

.CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OH...NONE.
PA...NONE.

&&
SHORT TERM...LOMBARDY
LONG TERM...MRD
AVIATION...KIELTYKA

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Sandusky

When: January 1, 7:00 AM EST to January 15, 3:00 PM EST
Where: Sandusky forecast zone
Property damage: $1.8 million
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.357, -83.144 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Ohio in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Ohio, January 2005

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: 5435325.