On Monday, March 21st warm frontal showers and thunderstorms moved through during the early morning hours. A cold front moved across the region later in the afternoon bringing another round of showers and isolated thunderstorms.
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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.
The episode as NWS PBZ wrote it up.
On Monday, March 21st warm frontal showers and thunderstorms moved through during the early morning hours. A cold front moved across the region later in the afternoon bringing another round of showers and isolated thunderstorms. During the afternoon, the better threat for severe storms was located south of I-70 with the best instability over central West Virginia and southeastern Ohio. With instability limited, and a capping inversion in place, most storms did not reach severe criteria.
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 Pittsburgh, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 9:58 PM EST, 4 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 1058 PM EDT SUN MAR 20 2011 .SYNOPSIS... AS A LOW MOVES EAST ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES...A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT NORTHEAST ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT. THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. AFTER A BRIEF RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY...ANOTHER LOW WILL AFFECT THE REGION FOR MID WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/... LIGHTNIGHT DEVELOPING WITH SHRA MOVG EASTWD ACROSS NRTHN PART OF CWA...SO ADDED ISOLD THUNDER WITH THAT ACTIVITY FOR NEXT SEVERAL HOURS....STILL LEAVING POP RELATIVELY LOW ELSEWHERE TILL EARLY MORNING. SREF SHOWS SMALL CHC THUNDER BY AROUND 9-10Z WITH LEFTOVERS OF MIDWEST CONVECTION SO INTRODUCED ISOLATED THUNDER FOR PARTS OF THE CWA AFTER 10Z...OTHERWISE TOOK THUNDER OUT OF FORECAST UNTIL THEN. COULD SEE A DRY PERIOD MONDAY MORNING IN THE WARM SECTOR...WITH PRECIP THEN ALONG COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE LATER IN THE DAY. COULD SEE A FEW TSTORMS WITH COLD FRONT. WITH THE CWA IN THE WARM SECTOR FOR A GOOD PORTION OF THE DAY MONDAY...TEMPS SHOULD RUN ANOTHER 5 TO 10 DEGREES BEYOND TODAYS MAXES...DESPITE EXPECTED CLOUD COVER. && .SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... FOLLOWING THE COLD FRONT PASSAGE...A BRIEF RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS SOUTH FOR MONDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY. THEN EXPECT ANOTHER WARM FRONT TO LIFT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT...WITH THE NEXT LOW TRACKING EAST ACROSS THE CWA DURING THE DAY WEDNESDAY. THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS LOW WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON MAXES...ESPECIALLY WEDNESDAY. CURRENTLY FAVORING A TEMP FORECAST THIS PERIOD WHICH LEANS JUST A BIT LOWER THAN GFS...AS NAM MOS LOOKS TOO COLD BASED ON MODEL THERMAL FIELDS. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/... A COLD FRONT WILL EXIT TO THE EAST BY THURSDAY...WITH PRECIP GRADUALLY DIMINISHING TO ISOLATED/SCATTERED BY THURSDAY NIGHT. WITH SIGNIFICANTLY COLDER AIR WORKING INTO THE REGION...PRECIP WILL LIKELY CHANGE TO SNOW BEFORE ENDING COMPLETELY...BUT WITH MILD GROUND AND AIR TEMPERATURES NOT LIKELY FALLING TO FREEZING BEFORE MOST OF THE PRECIP ENDS...DO NOT THINK SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL OCCUR. MAINLY DRY CONDITIONS ARE PROJECTED TO PREVAIL FOR FRIDAY UNDER DRY NW FLOW. ECMWF/GFS SHOW SOME DIFFERENCES FOR NEXT WEEKEND...WITH THE GFS MORE PROGRESSIVE BRINGING THE NEXT SYSTEM INTO THE AREA FOR THE WEEKEND...WHILE THE ECMWF KEEPS A MORE AMPLIFIED PATTERN KEEPING A LARGE UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER NEW ENGLAND/EASTERN CANADA WITH THE NEXT SYSTEM REMAINING FURTHER WEST. GIVEN THE DIFFERENCES...WILL MAKE SMALL CHANGES...KEEPING SATURDAY DRY...WITH A LOW END CHANCE OF RAIN/SNOW SHOWERS ON SUNDAY. TEMPERATURES 10-15 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL WILL PREVAIL FOR LATE WEEK...WITH THE BEGINNINGS OF A MODERATING TREND BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND. && .AVIATION /03Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... OVERCAST MIDDLE DECK COVERS MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING WARM FRONT. INITIAL PRECIP ENTERING WITH THE WARM FRONT MOVING INTO NORTHWEST PA BEFORE MIDNIGHT. THE SHOWERS WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE PA/WV PORTS OVERNIGHT. THINK PRECIP WILL BE SHOWERY...WITH MVFR CONDITIONS PREVAILING. WITH SOME ELEVATED INSTABILITY ALONG THE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY TNGT...AND SOME SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY IN ADVANCE OF THE COLD FRONT MONDAY...AN ISOLATED TSTM OR TWO IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION...ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH...BUT GIVEN LIMITED COVERAGE...WILL NOT INCLUDE IN THE TERMINALS FOR NOW. PRECIP WILL DIMINISH IN COVERAGE MONDAY AFTN AFTER THE COLD FRONT MAKES ITS SWEEP OF THE AREA. IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT...SW WINDS ALOFT WILL INCREASE SIGNIFICANTLY...SO WILL RETAIN LLWS TNGT/EARLY MONDAY. VFR WILL GENERALLY PREVAIL MONDAY EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS. A STRONGER SYSTEM WILL BRING WIDESPREAD PRECIP/RESTRICTIONS TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. EXPECT PRECIP TO DIMINISH IN COVERAGE FOR LATE IN THE WEEK...BUT COLD NW FLOW MVFR STRATOCUMULUS IS EXPECTED TO PERSIST OVER THE REGION THROUGH THURSDAY WITH SOME IMPROVEMENT PROGGED FOR FRIDAY. && .PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MD...NONE. OH...NONE. PA...NONE. WV...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 457 AM EDT SUN MAR 20 2011 MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023- 029-031-073>076-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-210900- GARRETT-TUSCARAWAS-CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-COSHOCTON-HARRISON- JEFFERSON OH-MUSKINGUM-GUERNSEY-BELMONT-NOBLE-MONROE-MERCER-VENANGO- FOREST-LAWRENCE-BUTLER-CLARION-JEFFERSON PA-BEAVER-ALLEGHENY- ARMSTRONG-INDIANA-WASHINGTON-GREENE-WESTMORELAND-WESTMORELAND RIDGES- FAYETTE-FAYETTE RIDGES-HANCOCK-BROOKE-OHIO-MARSHALL-WETZEL-MARION- MONONGALIA-PRESTON-TUCKER- 457 AM EDT SUN MAR 20 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MARYLAND...EAST CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 153 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:18 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The public reports twigs and small branches broken.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, March 2011
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: 289471.