Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2007

EF0 tornado, Omega, Ohio, April 26, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Pike County on April 26, 2007, touching down at 8:25 PM EDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

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

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
April 26, 2007
Touchdown
8:25 PM EDT (00:25 UTC)
Lifted
8:28 PM EDT (00:28 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$25,000
County
Pike County
Touchdown point
39.130, -82.926
Lift-off point
39.140, -82.913
Record number
0704261825-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms developed across south central Ohio ahead of a cold front during the evening. An intense supercell developed in northeast Kentucky and crossed the Ohio River into south central Ohio. The supercell traversed Brown, Adams, Pike and Ross counties and produced three tornadoes.

A tornado touched down briefly just southwest of the town of Omega. Two barns had portions of their roofs lifted off. The garage doors to both barns were collapsed inward. Two softwood trees were snapped at their bases near the barns. This tornado was rated EF-0.

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

The warnings

9 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:16 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:34 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:27 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:27 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchILN
23:28 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningILN
00:16 UTC00:34 UTCTornado WarningILN
00:53 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningILN

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

0.4 hours before the tornado, 83 km from the path. April 27, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2007-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 599 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 829 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2007-04-27The 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 159 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
599 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
882 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
829 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
190 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

11.6 hours after it, 83 km from the path. April 27, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 15 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 614 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2007-04-27The 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 96 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
78 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
614 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Albany (UNI), 60 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:36 UTC71.657.2160° 8 kt1007.1
22:55 UTC71.659170° 8 kt161007.1
23:16 UTC71.659160° 5 kt141007.1
23:36 UTC69.859160° 5 kt1006.8
23:56 UTC69.859160° 6 kt1006.4
00:16 UTC69.859150° 8 kt1006.4
00:36 UTC69.859150° 6 kt1006.4
00:55 UTC6859150° 6 kt1006.4
01:16 UTC6859150° 5 kt1006.4
01:36 UTC6859150° 7 kt1006.4VCTS
01:56 UTC6859180° 6 kt1006.8RA
02:16 UTC6859220° 3 kt1007.1RA

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

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:23 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
23:25 UTCTORNADO1 Se PeeblesAdams, OHROOF AND FRONT PORCH BALCONY COMPLETELY REMOVED FROM A HOME NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF STATE ROUTE 32 AND STEAM FURNACE ROAD. THE WALLS OF A BARN COLLAPSED AND SOME MINOR DAMAGE TO AN AWNING OCCURRED AT A NEARBY NURSERY.
00:02 UTCFLOOD4 W PiketonPike, OHHIGH WATER IN DITCHES. WATER FLOWING 1 INCH DEEP OVER ROAD.
00:02 UTCHAIL 0.254 W PiketonPike, OHCOVERING GROUND
01:20 UTCHAIL 0.885 Sw AllensvilleVinton, OHHAIL REPORTED NEAR RAY, OH.
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGAllensvilleVinton, OHSEVERAL TREES ON ROADS NEAR ALLENSVILLE AND OTHER AREAS OF NW VINTON COUNTY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 26, 2007

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 262:58 PM CDTEF0Will, IL3.25$100,000
April 263:50 PM CDTEF0Cumberland, TN7.950$20,000
April 264:08 PM CDTEF1LaPorte, IN0.5100$40,000
April 264:18 PM CDTEF1LaPorte, IN0.34501$40,000
April 266:55 PM EDTEF0Brown, OH0.550$50,000
April 267:12 PM EDTEF1Berrien, MI1.250$10,000
April 267:23 PM EDTEF1Adams, OH1.550$70,000
April 267:50 PM EDTEF1Fleming, KY3.6200$100,000
April 267:52 PM EDTEF1Claiborne, TN4.6757$425,000
April 267:02 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.150

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.