F2 tornado, Polk to Homerville, Ohio, November 10, 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

November 10, 2002

Touchdown

5:48 PM EST (22:48 UTC)

Path length

9.5 miles (15.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.4 million

Counties

Ashland and Medina counties

Touchdown point

40.950, -82.220

Lift-off point

41.030, -82.130

Record number

918

A tornado touched down two miles southwest of Polk near the intersection of County Road 601 and Township Road 902. A new home at this location was destroyed. The tornado then traveled northeast across the western and northern portions of Polk. Two homes on the west side of Polk were heavily damaged and a small barn was leveled just north of town. Another 10 to 12 buildings, including two public buildings sustained minor damage in Polk. From Polk, the tornado traveled northeast across rural areas and passed just to the west of Albion. Two homes along County Road 620 just west of Township Road 521 lost entire roofs and had exterior walls partially or entirely knocked down. A nearby barn was leveled with debris thrown as much as one half mile. A small boat tethered in a pond near the barn was found a quarter mile away and the pond itself was filled with debris. A church in the area had it's steeple toppled. The tornado continued northeast and damaged several more homes and buildings. The tornado moved into Medina County just east of County Road 175. In the county, a total of five homes were either completely destroyed or declared unlivable with another 11 homes sustaining enough damage to require significant repairs. Approximately 30 additional homes and buildings suffered minor damage. A few dozen cars sustained varying amounts of damage. The tornado was on the ground in Ashland County for approximately five and a half miles with the damage path no more than 50 yards in width.

A tornado moved into the county from Ashland County just to the east of Firestone Road. The tornado then traveled northeast through Homerville and finally dissipated about a mile and a half northeast of the town. The first significant damage in the county occurred along Williams Road where a newer two story home lost it's roof and most of the second floor. Several other homes and buildings in this area sustained minor damage. In Homerville, an auto repair shop was destroyed and several homes sustained moderate to minor damage. A barn was destroyed just southwest of town. Many cars were damaged and dozens of trees downed. The tornado was on the ground in Medina County for approximately four miles and had a damage path no more than 50 yards in width.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:18 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:23 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.

Wooster (BJJ), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:47 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

63 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 64 of them

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.