F2 tornado, Crystal Spgs, Ohio, April 28, 2002

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

   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.

4. 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.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. 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.

7. 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.

Rating

F2

Date

April 28, 2002

Touchdown

1:58 PM EDT (17:58 UTC)

Path length

7.2 miles (11.6 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$46 million

County

Stark County

Touchdown point

40.850, -81.520

Lift-off point

40.870, -81.400

Record number

43

A strong F2 tornado touched down at 158 pm edt and caused major damage and two minor injuries along a path of just over seven miles. Major damage occurred along the path which was nearly a quarter mile in width at times. The initial touchdown occurred west of the intersection of Arlington Avenue and Windy Lane Street NW near Crystal Springs. From this location, the tornado moved east northeast through residential neighborhoods in Jackson Township. The tornado passed to the north of Lake Cable, crossed Interstate 77 near Portage Street and finally dissipated near a shopping district along State Route 297 in North Canton. The damage path was intermittent along part of its length. Over 300 homes were damaged along the damage path with 25 structures destroyed. An additional 38 buildings including three businesses were partially destroyed with 50 more structures sustaining significant roof damage. Another 197 homes and businesses suffered minor damage. A middle school building suffered extensive damage and was closed for nearly a week for repairs. A nearby high school was also damaged. Approximately 1000 trees were downed by the tornado and over 300 vehicles damaged.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

7 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:51 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:15 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:56 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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