During the morning hours of June 4, an area of showers and thunderstorms developed over southern Canada as an area of low pressure and a frontal boundary tracked across the Great Lakes. The scattered shower and thunderstorm activity organized into a line segment as it approached the waters of Lake Erie.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 CLE wrote it up.
During the morning hours of June 4, an area of showers and thunderstorms developed over southern Canada as an area of low pressure and a frontal boundary tracked across the Great Lakes. The scattered shower and thunderstorm activity organized into a line segment as it approached the waters of Lake Erie. The line continued to develop and strength upon hitting the Lake Erie shoreline of northwest Pennsylvania shortly before noon. Damaging winds and hail swept through the area before coming to an end around 1:30pm that afternoon.
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 Jun 4, 8:50 AM EST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 950 AM EDT SAT JUN 4 2011 .SYNOPSIS... A WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA THIS EVENING THEN HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD BACK OVER THE REGION SUNDAY AND CONTINUE INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/... THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA SHOULD DECREASE AND THEN WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE FRONT TO GET CLOSER AND THE JUNE SUNSHINE TO HELP MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP. CHANGED THE WORDING IN NORTHWEST OHIO TO SCATTERED FOR THE AFTERNOON ALONG WITH A CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER. FORECAST HIGHS LOOK GOOD. AREAS EAST OF CLE COULD GET A LAKE BREEZE...IT COULD BE CLOSE. && .SHORT TERM /6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... DISSIPATING COLD FRONT WILL WORK TO TRIGGER CONVECTION INTO THE FIRST PART OF THE NIGHT THEN COOLING...LESS FAVORABLE WIND SHIFT AND UPPER RIDGING SHOULD COMBINE TO TAPER OFF TSRA THREAT FROM NW TO SE. THERE MAY BE ENOUGH MOISTURE LEFT AROUND IN THE SE PART OF THE AREA FOR A FEW SHRA/TSRA TO HANG AROUND SUN. UPPER RIDGING AND SFC HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE AREA SUN NIGHT INTO MON EVENING SHOULD KEEP THINGS DRY. MODELS CONTINUE TO TRY AND BRING WEAK S/W OVER THE TOP OF RIDGE AND INTO THE CWA LATE MON NIGHT/TUE TIME FRAME SO WILL MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO BETTER REFLECT CHANCE POPS FOR THIS. WARM FRONT EXPECTED TO BE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA WED TO PROVIDE FOCUS FOR CONVECTION BUT CONCERNED THAT UPPER RIDGING COULD BE TOO STRONG SO WILL JUST GO FOR SLIGHT CHANCE. TEMPS WARM MON THROUGH WED FROM NEAR NORMAL TO ABOUT 10 OR SO DEG ABOVE NORMAL. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... MODELS SEEM TO BE HOLDING-ON TO THE MOVEMENT OF A WEAK COLD FRONT THAT WILL MOVE SLOWLY ACROSS THE AREA AND SAG SOUTHWARD ON THURSDAY. THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO BRING A THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOSTLY THURSDAY. FRIDAY APPEARS TO BE A TRANSITION DAY WITH DRIER CONDITIONS MOVING INTO THE AREA. WILL CONTINUE DRIER CONDITIONS ON SATURDAY. LOOK FOR TEMPERATURES TO BE ABOVE NORMAL THURSDAY AND NEAR NORMAL FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. && .AVIATION /14Z SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... HIGH PRESSURE NOW EAST OF THE AREA. A WARM FRONT HAS NOW MOVED ACROSS THE TAF ROUTES. SOME OVERNIGHT TSTM ACTIVITY NEAR SAUTE ST. MARIE WILL DROP SOUTHWARD AND BRING SOME CLOUDINESS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR PRECIPITATION FOR THE TAF ROUTES OF KERI...KYNG...KCAK AND KCLE. SATELLITE PICTURES SHOWING THIS MOVEMENT OF ACTIVITY TOWARDS OUR EASTERN TAF SITES. SOME MID LEVEL CLOUDS NOW SHOWING JUST A LITTLE OVER NW OHIO. FOR NOW MODELS SHOWING SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING AND MOVING ACROSS THE AREA IN THE AFTERNOON...WILL MENTION CB THEN VCTS FOR MOST SITES THIS AFTERNOON. .OUTLOOK...SOME NON VFR POSSIBLE AT CLE AND ERI DURING THE FIRST HALF OF TONIGHT...OTHERWISE MAINLY VFR THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. && .MARINE... SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 10 TO 15 KNOTS LATER THIS MORNING AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE GREAT LAKES REGION. LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING HOURS...WINDS COULD INCREASE TO 15 TO 20 KNOTS AS CONVECTION DEVELOPS OVER THE AREA. AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE...WINDS WILL SHIFT TO NORTHWEST THIS EVENING. WINDS AND WAVES WILL DIMINISH AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE. AS AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE REGION SUNDAY...WINDS WILL BE NORTHERLY EARLY SUNDAY BEFORE SHIFTING TO NORTHEAST. WINDS WILL VEER TO SOUTHERLY ON TUESDAY AHEAD OF NEXT FRONTAL SYSTEM. && .CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...NONE. PA...NONE. MARINE...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...ADAMS NEAR TERM...KIELTYKA SHORT TERM...ADAMS LONG TERM...BC AVIATION...BC MARINE...BC/SCHULER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 511 AM EDT SAT JUN 4 2011 LEZ061-142>149-162>169-OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047- 089-PAZ001>003-050915- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM RIPLEY TO BUFFALO NY- MAUMEE BAY TO RENO BEACH OH-RENO BEACH TO THE ISLANDS OH- THE ISLANDS TO VERMILION OH-VERMILION TO AVON POINT OH- AVON POINT TO WILLOWICK OH-WILLOWICK TO GENEVA-ON-THE LAKE OH-GENEVA- ON-THE-LAKE TO CONNEAUT OH-CONNEAUT OH TO RIPLEY NY- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM MAUMEE BAY TO RENO BEACH- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM RENO BEACH TO THE ISLANDS- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM THE ISLANDS TO VERMILION- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM VERMILION TO AVON POINT- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM AVON POINT TO WILLOWICK- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM WILLOWICK TO GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE TO CONNEAUT- LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM CONNEAUT OH TO RIPLEY NY-LUCAS-WOOD- OTTAWA-SANDUSKY-ERIE OH-LORAIN-CUYAHOGA-LAKE-GEAUGA-ASHTABULA INLAND- HANCOCK-SENECA-HURON-MEDINA-SUMMIT-PORTAGE-TRUMBULL-WYANDOT-CRAWFORD- RICHLAND-ASHLAND-WAYNE-STARK-MAHONING-MARION-MORROW-HOLMES-KNOX- ASHTABULA LAKESHORE-NORTHERN ERIE-SOUTHERN ERIE-CRAWFORD PA- 511 AM EDT SAT JUN 4 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR LAKE ERIE...NORTH CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHEAST OHIO...NORTHWEST OHIO AND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. THE MAIN RISK WILL BE FOR DAMAGING WINDS WITH A LESSER RISK OF LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED.
The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 146 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:04 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A line of severe thunderstorms produced a swath of damaging hail. Numerous hail reports ranged in size from nickels to golf balls.
Thunderstorms produced golf ball sized hail. Numerous vehicles and roofs were damaged.
Thunderstorm winds downed a few large trees.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in the area.
Thunderstorms produced quarter size hail.
Thunderstorm winds downed large tree branches. Two mobile homes were damaged. No injuries were reported during this event.
Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree.
Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, June 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: 315674, 322626, 315723, 315722, 315856, 315862, 315724, 315857.