Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2009

EF0 tornado, Weimers Mill, Ohio, August 19, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Darke County on August 19, 2009, touching down at 6:30 PM EDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
August 19, 2009
Touchdown
6:30 PM EDT (22:30 UTC)
Lifted
6:31 PM EDT (22:31 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Darke County
Touchdown point
40.108, -84.674
Lift-off point
40.109, -84.672
Record number
0908191630-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A series of severe storms brought damaging winds and hail to the area during the evening hours of August 19th. One tornado was also reported.

A weak tornado touched down in an open field two miles west of Greenville near State Highway 502. Since this tornado occurred in an open field there was no crop or structural damage.

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

The warnings

24 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:06 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:16 UTC and running to 02:38 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:13 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILN
22:06 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningILN
22:16 UTC02:38 UTCTornado WatchILN
23:12 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningILN
23:44 UTC00:00 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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 21:34 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), 12:00Z

10.5 hours before the tornado, 106 km from the path. August 19, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2009-08-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1143 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 491 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2009-08-19The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
1143 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1533 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.5 hours after it, 106 km from the path. August 20, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2009-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2004 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 904 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2009-08-20The 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 69 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
2004 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3117 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
904 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
7.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:28 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:23 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 Ene PalestineDarke, OHSEVERAL REPORTS OF A FUNNEL CLOUD BETWEEN GREENVILLE AND PALESTINE.
22:30 UTCTORNADO 03 W GreenvilleDarke, OHA VERY BRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN AN OPEN FIELD 3 MILES WEST OF GREENVILLE. NO CROP OR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS REPORTED.
23:17 UTCTSTM WND DMGAnsoniaDarke, OHA FEW TREES DOWN.
23:22 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDAnsoniaDarke, OH
23:25 UTCTSTM WND GST 60North StarDarke, OH
23:28 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDRossburgDarke, OH
23:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 W SidneyShelby, OHTREES DOWNED. WINDOWS DAMAGED ON A HOME.
23:35 UTCHAIL 0.881 Nw SidneyShelby, OHNICKEL SIZE HAIL REPORTED ALONG WITH WINDS GUSTING AT 40 TO 50 MPH ON CISCO ROAD.
23:36 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDSidneyShelby, OH
23:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGSidneyShelby, OHTREES DOWNED. A ROOF WAS DAMAGED ON A MOBILE HOME.
23:43 UTCHAIL 1SidneyShelby, OHSMALL LIMBS DOWN ALONG WITH QUARTER SIZE HAIL.
23:48 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDSidneyShelby, OHREPORTED NEAR INTERSTATE 75 AT EXIT 90.
23:50 UTCHAIL 2SidneyShelby, OH
23:57 UTCHAIL 1.75SidneyShelby, OH
23:57 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1Fort LoramieShelby, OH1 INCH PER HOUR RATES OF RAINFALL.
00:03 UTCFLOODRiversideMontgomery, OHSTREET FLOODING REPORTED IN RIVERSIDE WITH WATER STALLING VEHICLES.
00:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S New CarlisleClark, OHLARGE BRANCHES DOWN IN BETHEL TOWNSHIP.
00:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew CarlisleClark, OHA LARGE TREE WAS DOWNED ON A HOUSE.
00:19 UTCHAIL 0.75New CarlisleClark, OH
00:22 UTCTSTM WND DMGMedwayClark, OHTREES DOWN.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 19, 2009

29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 191:50 PM CDTEF0Hennepin, MN4.3500$500,000
August 192:10 PM CDTEF1Scott, IL15.1250$395,000
August 192:16 PM CDTEF1Dakota, MN1.650$25,000
August 192:40 PM CDTEF1Washington, MN0.775$100,000
August 192:46 PM CDTEF2Morgan, IL19.14403$4.1 million
August 192:57 PM CDTEF0Pierce, WI0.210
August 193:05 PM CDTEF0Saint Croix, WI0.425$25,000
August 193:07 PM CDTEF0Anoka, MN0.010
August 193:09 PM CDTEF0Chickasaw, IA1.140$20,000
August 193:17 PM CDTEF1Sangamon, IL12.9200$200,000
August 193:19 PM CDTEF3Sangamon, IL24.388019$18 million
August 193:25 PM CDTEF0Washington, MN0.740$25,000
August 193:50 PM CDTEF0Howard, IA0.120
August 193:50 PM CDTEF0Fayette, IA3.540$22,000
August 193:58 PM CDTEF0Saint Croix, WI1.425
August 194:00 PM CDTEF0Chisago, MN0.9200$100,000
August 194:00 PM CDTEF0Winneshiek, IA5.325$5,000
August 194:04 PM CDTEF0DeWitt, IL2.415$10,000
August 194:11 PM CDTEF0Saint Croix, WI1.725
August 194:27 PM CDTEF0McLean, IL2.520
August 194:30 PM CDTEF1Buchanan, IA2.2100$75,000
August 195:10 PM CDTEF0Vermilion, IL4.750$80,000
August 195:20 PM CDTEF0Jones, IA0.150$5,000
August 196:00 PM CDTEF1Kane, IL1.040$25,000
August 196:00 PM CDTEF1Iroquois, IL2.850$100,000
August 196:15 PM CDTEF0Kane, IL0.830
August 196:28 PM CDTEF0Brown, MN3.720
August 197:32 PM CDTEF2Porter, IN4.060$1.5 million
August 1912:05 AM CDTEF1Texas, MO0.81001$25,000

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.