Downed trees caused by damaging wind gusts from strong thunderstorms took place on the evening of March 22nd in Perry County. The culprit of these storms came in the form of a slow moving cold front sweeping through the Ohio Valley.
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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.
Downed trees caused by damaging wind gusts from strong thunderstorms took place on the evening of March 22nd in Perry County. The culprit of these storms came in the form of a slow moving cold front sweeping through the Ohio Valley. While the bulk of convection stayed north of the area, the southern extent of a broken line of storms pressed through Perry County. Storms then departing the forecast area, causing no further thunderstorm damage across southeast Ohio that evening.
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 Mar 22, 6:27 PM EST, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Charleston WV 727 PM EDT Sun Mar 22 2026 .WHAT HAS CHANGED... As of 720 PM Sunday... Updated aviation discussion As of 540 PM Sunday... A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for portions of SE OH. Previous discussion: No significant changes to previous forecast thinking. && .KEY MESSAGES... - 1) A cold front will move through the region Sunday evening and overnight, with showers and thunderstorms, some possibly severe. - 2) Another front will affect the area late week, with cooler conditions in its wake. && .DISCUSSION... KEY MESSAGE 1... As of 540 PM Sunday... A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for portions of SE OH. This watch will cover two distinct areas of expected convection. The first, along a slow moving cold front where an existing broken line of convection has already developed. These storms will continue to move west to east along the slowly southerly sagging frontal boundary and may brush by our northern counties this evening - a bulk of this activity is expected to remain north of us. The main threats with this activity are large to very large hail and locally damaging winds. The second, will be elevated anafrontal convection expected to begin developing over the next few hours as large scale ascent begins to increase. Initially, this activity will be well north of us, expected to begin arriving in our northwest counties toward the tail end of the current severe thunderstorm watch which ends at midnight. The main threats with this activity will be large hail and perhaps some marginal severe gusts along the leading edge if cold pools can amalgamate sufficiently. Previous discussion: Weather becomes active again today across the region. Very warm, and gradually moistening conditions taking hold across the area, with increasing southwesterly flow. An approaching cold front, will help to kick off showers and storms, mainly late this afternoon and evening in the increasingly unstable airmass. Storms look to initially kick off across far eastern Ohio/western PA as the front approaches the river, with the front outrunning/undercutting convection in the late evening hours as it progresses southward of the Ohio River. Greatest risk area for stronger storms thus still looks to be north of the Ohio River area, in association with frontal boundary, and in an environment with strong shear, and steep lapse rates, with the potential for strong rotating updrafts, and a threat for large hail and damaging winds. SPC has placed a hatched area across SE Ohio zones for large hail, possibly golf ball size or larger. As the front moves east in the evening out ahead of convection, and instability gradually wanes, expecting storms to gradually become less severe/intense in nature, although there will still be the potential for a severe storm in the late evening/night hours due to lingering elevated instability, and the approach of a shortwave from the west. Precipitation will gradually taper off Monday morning with the front and aforementioned shortwave moving out of the area. However, plenty of lingering low level moisture will mean a rather cloudy/misty start to Monday for many areas. KEY MESSAGE 2... Another frontal boundary will affect the area towards the end of the week. Still pretty far out, but there are indications it could linger across the area for a few days, with multiple waves moving along, possibly enhancing periods of precipitation. Too early to be concerned about any water issues this far out, but regardless, looks like a wet end to the week/into the next weekend is possible. && .AVIATION /00Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... VFR conditions will prevail at all terminals through 02Z with convective activity remaining north of the terminals. After 02Z, SHRA and TSRA will progress southeast through the forecast area with the best chances for thunder at PKB/CKB where predominate TSRA groups have been coded. Lesser confidence farther south where convective has largely been addressed with TEMPO or PROB30 groups. Direct impacts from thunderstorms will result in brief IFR/LIFR visibility and variable wind gusts up to 40 KTs. A sharp wind shift to the northwest will occur with the frontal passage between 02Z and 06Z. Behind the front, widespread MVFR with some patches of IFR are expected. Conditions will gradually improve to VFR from northwest to southeast after 15Z Monday, though low-end MVFR ceilings may linger along the western slopes of the mountains through the end of the period. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Medium. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Showers and storms may spread across the area from northwest to southeast quicker than currently forecast. 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. DATE MON UTC 1HRLY 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 EDT 1HRLY 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 CRW CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H M M H HTS CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H BKW CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H M M H EKN CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H M M H H H H CKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H M H H H AFTER 00Z TUESDAY... Patchy fog possible Tuesday morning. IFR conditions possible late Thursday and Friday with the approach of another cold front and associated showers. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && DISCUSSION...JP/SL AVIATION...JP
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:58 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down along Garey Road Northeast by Junction City.
In the community of Maxwell, a tree was blown down at the intersection of Bell Bottom Road and State Route 668.
A tree was blown down along Town Highway 423.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, March 2026
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: 1327292, 1327293, 1327294.