Thunderstorms formed ahead of a cold front moving through central Ohio during the peak heating of the afternoon. Mixing layer cape values across southeast Ohio were in the 1500j/kg range, with 20 to 30 knots of shear.
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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 RLX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms formed ahead of a cold front moving through central Ohio during the peak heating of the afternoon. Mixing layer cape values across southeast Ohio were in the 1500j/kg range, with 20 to 30 knots of shear. Initially the cells were fairly discrete. The storms developed rapidly and some large hail was reported. They eventually formed a squall line, with pulses and bowing structures from time to time. The gust front out ran the convective line and it began to break apart during the mid to late evening just south of the Ohio River in West Virginia.
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 Jul 15, 2:00 PM EST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Charleston WV 300 PM EDT FRI JUL 15 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Weakening cold front tonight into Saturday. High pressure Saturday night into Sunday night. Trough aloft/cold front Tuesday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... Latest satellite imagery and surface observations indicates that the stratus is slowly lifting and dissipating. In addition...radar mosaic indicates some light showers/sprinkles continue across the mountain counties...while a few showers have begun to develop across Ohio...just west of our forecast area. The showers to our west were developing along a weak cold front which is pushing east. There is quite a gradient in low-level moisture along this boundary as well. Dewpoint temperatures were generally near 70 across southeast Ohio...east of the boundary... with values quickly dropping off into the 60s and even 50s behind it. the front and associated showers/storms should push across the area through tonight. Expect the stratus will continue to dissipate today. However...stratus could reform again tonight. Cold front should be located near or just southeast of our mountain counties early Saturday...with drier and somewhat cooler air filtering in. However...combination of daytime heating and remaining low-level moisture could result in the development of showers and storms...mainly across the mountain counties. && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... Aside form lingering activity in the southern mountain areas Saturday night...the short term forecast brings another short lived drying period for the Middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians. Lose the bulk of the moisture above around 800mb during this time frame. Awaiting the arrival of the next cold front beyond Monday. Temperatures will slowly creep upwards as temperatures hover around the 20C mark each day...but the saturated ground will keep temperatures in the upper 80s for the lowlands. A bigger story may be the dewpoints Sunday which should not get higher than the lower 60s for the bulk of the CWA. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... Seeing an overall trend of drying out beyond the Cold front/trough axis aloft in the Monday night/Tuesday front end of the long term forecast period. Largely a dry forecast beyond with the amplification of the upper level ridge building over the Southern Plains. Expecting a heat wave over that part of the country that will eventually leak its way over into the Ohio Valley with 500mb heights in the 594dkm range...but this should be a slowly evolving scenario. No out of the ordinary heat in the forecast for our area as of yet. ECMWF hints at the ridge retrograding westward beyond day 7. && .AVIATION /19Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Status has been slow to lift and dissipate. However...expect vfr conditions should prevail by 20Z across the entire area. Isold showers and thunderstorms will develop again...particularly after 20Z...with brief mvfr/ifr conditions as a cold front approaches the region. After 03Z...widespread mvfr/isold ifr cigs and vsbys expected to develop again. After 13Z...conditions should improve with VFR conditions expected across most of the region. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Medium. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Development of low ceilings and fog tonight uncertain. EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION: H = HIGH: TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS. L = LOW: TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. UTC 1HRLY 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 EDT 1HRLY 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 CRW CONSISTENCY M M H H H H H H H H H H HTS CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H BKW CONSISTENCY M M H H H H H H H H H H EKN CONSISTENCY M H H H H H H H H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H M CKB CONSISTENCY M H H H H H M H H H H H AFTER 18Z SATURDAY... IFR fog possible Sunday morning. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && SYNOPSIS...JSH/26 NEAR TERM...JSH SHORT TERM...26 LONG TERM...26 AVIATION...JSH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 426 AM EDT FRI JUL 15 2016 KYZ101>103-105-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-VAZ003-004-WVZ005>011- 013>020-024>040-046-047-160830- GREENUP-CARTER-BOYD-LAWRENCE KY-PERRY-MORGAN-ATHENS-WASHINGTON- JACKSON OH-VINTON-MEIGS-GALLIA-LAWRENCE OH-DICKENSON-BUCHANAN-WAYNE- CABELL-MASON-JACKSON WV-WOOD-PLEASANTS-TYLER-LINCOLN-PUTNAM-KANAWHA- ROANE-WIRT-CALHOUN-RITCHIE-DODDRIDGE-MINGO-LOGAN-BOONE-CLAY-BRAXTON- GILMER-LEWIS-HARRISON-TAYLOR-MCDOWELL-WYOMING-RALEIGH-FAYETTE- NICHOLAS-WEBSTER-UPSHUR-BARBOUR-POCAHONTAS-RANDOLPH- 426 AM EDT FRI JUL 15 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...SOUTHEAST OHIO...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND MUCH OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:39 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter saw a cracked windshield on a vehicle from large hail.
Trees were blown down on Route 78 just west of the Noble Morgan county line.
Trees were blown down along Route 328.
Trees fell down along Route 50.
Trees were blown down.
Trees were uprooted in a yard.
A trained spotter estimated 60 mph winds as the storm passed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, July 2016
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: 635982, 635983, 635984, 635985, 635986, 635987, 635988.