Tornadoes · United States · Ohio

1980 tornadoes in Ohio

34 tornadoes touched down in Ohio in 1980, 85 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1979 1981 The whole country in 1980

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Ohio in 1980

January 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 11	1:45 PM EST	F0	Wood	0.3	40			$50,000 to $500,000

April 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 3	8:20 PM EST	F1	Wood	0.3	40			$50,000 to $500,000
April 3	8:30 PM EST	F1	Auglaize	1.0	77			$50,000 to $500,000

April 8 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 8	3:10 PM EST	F1	Preble	1.5	100		$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	3:20 PM EST	F2	Butler	2.0	100	10	$500,000 to $5 million
April 8	3:25 PM EST	F2	Darke	1.0	100		$500,000 to $5 million
April 8	4:00 PM EST	F1	Allen	1.0	100	1	$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	4:00 PM EST	F1	Allen	0.5	77		$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	4:20 PM EST	F1	Putnam	1.0	77		$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	4:40 PM EST	F2	Wood	1.5	100	7	$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	4:55 PM EST	F2	Lucas	0.8	127	2	$500,000 to $5 million
April 8	4:55 PM EST	F1	Scioto	2.0	100	1	$50,000 to $500,000

May 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 12	2:30 PM EDT	F1	Athens	0.5	100			$50,000 to $500,000

May 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 13	8:10 PM EDT	F1	Wayne	0.3	50			$500 to $5,000

June 1 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 1	2:20 PM EDT	F1	Licking	0.2	77		$50,000 to $500,000
June 1	2:50 PM EDT	F1	Licking	2.0	150	5	$500,000 to $5 million
June 1	11:30 PM EDT	F1	Mercer	1.0	150	4	$500,000 to $5 million

June 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	5:05 PM EDT	F1	Hamilton	6.2	70		15	$5 million to $50 million
June 2	7:30 PM EDT	F1	Jackson	11.5	150			$500,000 to $5 million

June 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 6	7:10 PM EDT	F1	Carroll	0.8	77		2	$50,000 to $500,000
June 6	7:42 PM EDT	F1	Jefferson	0.8	77			$5,000 to $50,000

June 7 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 7	2:00 PM EDT	F1	Fulton	1.0	50		$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	4:25 PM EDT	F1	Holmes	0.3	50	1	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	4:45 PM EDT	F1	Tuscarawas	0.3	50		$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	8:16 PM EDT	F1	Richland	1.5	17		$50,000 to $500,000

July 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	8:05 AM EDT	F1	Paulding	1.3	100		6	$50,000 to $500,000
July 5	9:35 AM EDT	F2	Morrow	0.2	33		1	$5,000 to $50,000

July 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	11:55 AM EDT	F2	Hancock	0.2	50			$500 to $5,000
July 9	2:05 PM EDT	F1	Fairfield	0.5	60			$5,000 to $50,000

July 12 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 12	4:15 PM EDT	F1	Pickaway	0.2	73	$50,000 to $500,000
July 12	5:30 PM EDT	F1	Lawrence	0.2	50	$5,000 to $50,000
July 12	9:45 PM EDT	F1	Hocking	0.2	53	$5,000 to $50,000

August 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 3	7:15 PM EDT	F1	Greene	1.0	150			$50,000 to $500,000

August 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 5	5:00 PM EDT	F1	Perry	1.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000

Crossed into Ohio

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Ohio. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 8	2:40 PM CST	F1	Bracken, KY to OH	5.1	100		2	$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Ohio since 1950 Warnings in force in Ohio The live radar over Ohio

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.