EF1 tornado, Sullivan, Ohio, August 9, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

August 9, 2007

Touchdown

4:28 PM EDT (20:28 UTC)

Lifted

4:32 PM EDT (20:32 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.4 million

County

Ashland County

Touchdown point

41.056, -82.196

Lift-off point

41.056, -82.196

Record number

0708091428-01

A frontal boundary was oriented west to east across central Ohio. The surface frontal boundary, in combination with upper level atmospheric support, allowed for severe thunderstorms to develop across the region. Many of the thunderstorms that day were severe, and even a few tornadoes developed across northern Ohio.

A storm survey was conducted and an EF1 tornado was confirmed in northeastern Ashland County. The tornado touched down northeast of Sullivan along Black River School Road just to the west of the Medina County line. Two school buildings were damaged by the tornado. One of the schools lost a section of roofing over a gymnasium. Sections of roofing along the remainder of the building were lifted and buckled by tornado winds. Significant amounts of rain water got into the building as a result of this roof damage. Water damage in the school was extensive and the gymnasium floor will need replacement. A modular building used as a classroom also sustained damage. Fences surrounding recreational fields at the school were also damaged. A house across the road from the schools was slightly damaged and a communication tower nearby was toppled. Many trees were downed. The tornado had a damage path around one half mile in length and about 30 yards in width.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:12 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:25 UTC and running to 23:05 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 19:56 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.

Lorain/Elyria (LPR), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:28 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.

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 2007 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.