Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2006

F2 tornado, Mt Hope, Ohio, June 22, 2006

This F2 tornado ran 6.0 miles across Holmes County on June 22, 2006, touching down at 5:30 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $750,000 of property damage.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
June 22, 2006
Touchdown
5:30 PM EDT (21:30 UTC)
Path length
6.0 miles (9.7 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$750,000
County
Holmes County
Touchdown point
40.620, -81.780
Lift-off point
40.620, -81.700
Record number
683

What the Weather Service recorded

During the late afternoon hours of June 22nd, a severe thunderstorm moved across eastern Holmes County and produced a tornado. This tornado touched down at 5:30 pm just west of Mt Hope and tracked east through Winesburg and then exited the county. The tornado had a damage path in Holmes County roughly six miles in length and 50 to 100 yards in width. The majority of the damage was classified as F1, but there were several areas of F2 damage evident. Along the path, numerous structures were damaged and hundreds of trees toppled or snapped. A barn was heavily damaged near where the tornado first touched down. Two houses nearby sustained siding and roof damage. A home on State Route 241 just outside of Mt. Hope was destroyed and several buildings at a factory in Mt. Hope sustained major damage. Metal roofs were torn off of these factory buildings with debris found as far as a mile away. Wooden beams from the buildings were thrown and pierced metal garage doors. Empty box trailers were overturned and one box trailer was even torn from its frame. The tornado continued east from Mt Hope and damaged several more homes on it's way to Winesburg. One house had it's second floor torn off. A second factory near Winesburg lost large sections of roof. In Winesburg, a few homes sustained roof damage. The tornado continued into Tuscarawas County and caused damage there. Later, the same parent thunderstorm produced another tornado west of Waynesburg in southeastern Stark County.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:25 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:20 UTC and running to 23:24 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:10 UTC02:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchCLE
17:20 UTC23:24 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchCLE
21:08 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLE
21:25 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningCLE

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:40 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 air that afternoon

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.

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 141 km from the path. June 22, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2006-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 115 joules per kilogram, CIN -132, lifted condensation level 1255 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2006-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 133 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
115 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-132 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1255 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
161 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 141 km from the path. June 23, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2006-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 19 joules per kilogram, CIN -187, lifted condensation level 822 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2006-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -188 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
19 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-187 J/kg
Surface CAPE
134 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
822 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Wooster (BJJ), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC8573200° 7 kt1016.6
20:53 UTC8671250° 12 kt1016.9
21:11 UTC
21:19 UTC71.666.2300° 34 kt411021VCTS +RA
21:26 UTC6866.2310° 29 kt411020+TSRA FG
21:36 UTC6866.2310° 27 kt331021+TSRA BR
21:43 UTC6866.2320° 24 kt371021.3TSRA BR
21:53 UTC6865330° 19 kt271020.7VCTS RA BR
22:08 UTC6866.2350° 12 kt201021TSRA BR
22:19 UTC6864.440° 14 kt191020.7RA BR
22:30 UTC6866.260° 12 kt1020TSRA BR
22:53 UTC676570° 13 kt1017.9-RA BR

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

The radar

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:29 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
19:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGMedinaMedina, OHA FEW LARGE LIMBS DOWN.
19:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 E NewcomerstownTuscarawas, OHTREES AND LINES DOWN.
19:09 UTCHAIL 1MassillonStark, OHJUST EAST OF RTE 241 AND RTE 30.
19:29 UTCHAIL 0.755 Ne CantonStark, OHJACKSON TWP.
19:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGDellroyCarroll, OHTREES DOWN.
19:40 UTCHAIL 0.88WaynesburgStark, OH
19:48 UTCHAIL 1WaynesburgStark, OH
20:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGCarrolltonCarroll, OHTREES. DOWN.
20:48 UTCHAIL 1MedinaMedina, OH
20:56 UTCHAIL 1.75FairlawnSummit, OH
20:58 UTCHAIL 0.75DoverTuscarawas, OH
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGPolkAshland, OHMANY TREES DOWN.
21:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGAkronSummit, OHTREE AND LARGE LIMB DOWN IN THE VALLEY.
21:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGApple CreekWayne, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGWarsawCoshocton, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALONG SR83 AND SR36.
21:26 UTCTORNADO2 W WinesburgHolmes, OHTWO HOUSES AND SEVERAL BARNS EITHER DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. ONE BUSINESS LOST IT ROOF WHICH WAS BLOWN AROUND A HALF MILE TO THE EAST.
21:30 UTCFLASH FLOODNew PhiladelphiaTuscarawas, OHROAD FLOODING REPORTED ON RAGERSVILLE ROAD AND CROOKED RUN ROAD.
21:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGBrewsterStark, OHPOSSIBLE TORNADO. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN TOWN AND ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE COUNTY. MUCH OF THE AREA WAS WITHOUT POWER.
21:45 UTCFLASH FLOODMalvernCarroll, OHROAD FLOODING REPORTED IN HARRISON TWP...ROSE TWP AND IN BROWN TWP.
21:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 53WaynesburgStark, OH
22:00 UTCFLASH FLOODCantonStark, OHMANY ROADS FLOODED IN TUSCARAWAS AND PIKE TOWNSHIPS
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Sw DoverTuscarawas, OHNUMEROUS TREES AND LINES DOWN.
22:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGCarrolltonCarroll, OHTREES DOWN ALONG SR39.
22:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 N CarrolltonCarroll, OH65 MPH WIND GUSTS REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER.
23:00 UTCFLASH FLOODNew PhiladelphiaTuscarawas, OHMANY BASEMENTS AND ROADS FLOODED.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2006

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 228:13 AM CDTF0Tazewell, IL0.130
June 221:05 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO0.140
June 221:07 PM CDTF1Audrain, MO1.050
June 221:10 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO0.350
June 221:25 PM CDTF0Audrain, MO3.550
June 222:38 PM EDTF0Van Wert, OH0.125$20,000
June 222:43 PM EDTF1Van Wert, OH0.125$10,000
June 222:58 PM EDTF0Van Wert, OH0.125$10,000
June 223:00 PM EDTF0Mercer, OH0.230$20,000
June 222:15 PM CDTF0Pike, MO0.350
June 223:18 PM EDTF1Allen, OH0.150$20,000
June 221:30 PM MDTF0Douglas, CO0.150
June 223:30 PM EDTF0Auglaize, OH0.120$10,000
June 221:32 PM MDTF1Elbert, CO0.1100
June 222:45 PM MDTF0Elbert, CO0.150
June 223:20 PM MDTF0Elbert, CO0.150
June 225:45 PM EDTF1Stark, OH4.075$1.5 million
June 225:47 PM EDTF1Tuscarawas, OH3.050$50,000
June 225:58 PM EDTF1Stark, OH3.550$500,000
June 225:28 PM MDTF0Prowers, CO1.0100
June 228:00 PM CDTF0Seward, KS0.320
June 228:04 PM CDTF0Stafford, KS0.320

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.