Showers and isolated thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front during the evening hours.
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The episode as NWS ILN wrote it up.
Showers and isolated thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front during the evening hours.
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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 12, 6:03 PM EST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wilmington OH 703 PM EDT THU MAY 12 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Thunderstorms and a cold front will push east across the region tonight. Behind the front, drier and cooler conditions are expected on Friday. Another cold front will move through Friday night into Saturday morning, bringing a chance of rain, and even cooler conditions for the weekend. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM FRIDAY MORNING/... Convection is finally starting to fire across Indiana and central KY ahead of the better organized convection which developed in srn ILN and wrn KY earlier this afternoon. Mesoscale models are in good agreement in pushing an area of convection across the region this evening. Expect good coverage of the convection, so went categorical pops thru 06Z. Better instability is across KY, so the stronger storms could push through the srn counties. Embedded with these storms could be pockets of heavy rain. Toyed with issue a Flash Flood Watch for some of the srn counties, but feel that the pcpn will be progressive enuf tonight that any high water issues would be very isolated. More stable air works in behind the cold front after 06Z. Several models are lingering low level moisture, so held onto a little more cloudiness at the tail of tonight. Dropped temperatures tonight into the lower to mid 50s. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... High pressure ridge will work into the fa on Friday. H8 caa on Friday should allow for cu development by late morning, so upped cloud cover for tomorrow. Highs tomorrow will be slightly below normal, ranging in the upper 60s to lower 70s. Secondary cdfnt, driven by a digging H5 shortwave will push into the region Friday night. Front will bring a good area of showers with it. Went likely pops across much of the fa, with 50 pops in the extreme srn counties. Showers should be lingering in the ern counties early Saturday morning, before pushing off to the east. H8 temps drop below 0C on Saturday. Instability showers will be possible, so lingered a slight chance pop for part of the day. Highs will be much below normal for Saturday, with temperatures only making it back into the 50s. Strong high pressure will begin to build in for Saturday night. Clouds should begin to break up allowing temps to drop into the 30s for most locations. Very isolated frost could be a possibility for some of the nrn counties, but feel it is too low to really worry about right now. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... A cool airmass will be reinforced over the Ohio Valley on Sunday. Northwest flow at the surface will be topped by a cutoff low dropping southeast to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and then being shunted to the east in the afternoon. Vorticity maxima rotating around the closed low will interact with the cold air aloft and have a chance to spark some sprinkles or light showers with daytime heating hitting the top of the column. High pressure will then build over the region Monday for a brief respite. The upper level pattern will then become zonal with a l/w trough situated w-e from mn to me. a surface warm front will nose into the Ohio Valley from the southwest and showers and thunderstorms will occur along it starting later Monday night and more so on Tuesday. The evolution of the front is in question for Wednesday onward as the models diverge on their solutions. Opted to try to bring in drier air with high pressure building to the northwest on Wednesday night after the front crosses during the day Wednesday. After the weekend's cool start in the 50s, temperatures will rise slightly each subsequent day, falling slightly short of climatological normals in the lower 70s by the end of the forecast period. Nighttime low temperatures will start in the lower 40s and warm slightly each subsequent night to end up in the middle and upper 50s by Thursday night. && .AVIATION /00Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... Showers and thunderstorms just west of the taf sites this evening in association with a surface cold front. High res models indicate these showers and thunderstorms to approach the western TAF sites close to 0z while passing through the eastern TAF sites around or a little after 3z. Forecast soundings do support thunder but instability will be falling. Reductions is visibilities and cigs are likely in the more organized storms. As the cold front moves through the area tonight cigs will drop to MVFR. Global forecast soundings tend to support low cigs hanging around through the morning while the high res models support the cigs clearing out relatively quickly. Low level RH fields on the RAP show MVFR cigs re-developing just after sunrise across the north. Have trended tafs towards possible redevelopment across the north while more VFR towards the south. During the day Friday winds will stay out of the west as surface high pressure remains off to our south and west. VFR expected during the day Friday. OUTLOOK...MVFR ceilings and visibilities possible Saturday morning and again on Tuesday. && .ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...None. KY...None. IN...None. && SYNOPSIS...Hatzos/Sites NEAR TERM...Sites SHORT TERM...Sites LONG TERM...Franks AVIATION...Haines
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 350 AM EDT THU MAY 12 2016 INZ050-058-059-066-OHZ026-034-035-042>046-051>056-060>065-070>072- 130800- WAYNE-FAYETTE IN-UNION IN-FRANKLIN IN-HARDIN-MERCER-AUGLAIZE-DARKE- SHELBY-LOGAN-UNION OH-DELAWARE-MIAMI-CHAMPAIGN-CLARK-MADISON- FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-PREBLE-MONTGOMERY-GREENE-FAYETTE OH-PICKAWAY- FAIRFIELD-BUTLER-WARREN-CLINTON- 350 AM EDT THU MAY 12 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL INDIANA...SOUTHEAST INDIANA...CENTRAL OHIO...SOUTHWEST OHIO AND WEST CENTRAL OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE...WITH A POTENTIAL FOR LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY. INZ073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ073-074-077>082-088-130800- RIPLEY-DEARBORN-OHIO-SWITZERLAND-CARROLL-GALLATIN-BOONE-KENTON- CAMPBELL-OWEN-GRANT-PENDLETON-BRACKEN-ROBERTSON-MASON-LEWIS-ROSS- HOCKING-HAMILTON-CLERMONT-BROWN-HIGHLAND-ADAMS-PIKE-SCIOTO- 350 AM EDT THU MAY 12 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST INDIANA...NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...NORTHERN KENTUCKY...CENTRAL OHIO AND SOUTHWEST OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE...WITH A POTENTIAL FOR LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND HEAVY RAINFALL. IN ADDITION...CURRENT GROUND CONDITIONS REMAIN WET FROM RAIN OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. IF PROLONGED HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURS IN STORMS TODAY...THERE WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY. HATZOS
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:06 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree fell onto a house.
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, May 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: 624196.