F2 tornado, Ohio City, Ohio, March 31, 2006

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

March 31, 2006

Touchdown

7:38 PM EST (00:38 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Van Wert County

Touchdown point

40.750, -84.620

Lift-off point

40.770, -84.580

Record number

206

The tornado was likely produced as the result of a line of thunderstorms overtaking an isolated supercell thunderstorm ahead of the line. The circulation which produced the tornado intensified shortly after the merger of the line and isolated supercell. The tornado developed near the intersection of Burris Road and Walnut Grove Church Road about 1 mile south of Ohio City. The tornado tracked to the east-northeast for roughly 2 miles before dissipating near Greenville Rd about 2 miles east of Ohio City. Damage along the first half of the tornado track was consistent with F2 intensity, with winds estimated at 140-150 mph and an initial path width of about 300 yards. In this area, 3 barns were completely destroyed, with another 5 sustaining damage. A garage was destroyed, and several houses received damage including roof, siding, and windows. Several grain bins were also damaged, along with other miscellaneous vehicle and property damage, including several tractors, a combine and other farm implements. Damage along the second half of the tornado track was consistent with F1 intensity, with the path width narrowing to about 25 yards. Several buildings sustained roof, siding, and window damage, with several instances of trailer and vehicle damage.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:32 UTC and running to 01:35 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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.

Lima (AOH), 49 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

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

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

3 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.