Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2010

EF0 tornado, Van Wert Arpt to Van Wert Circle S Ar, Ohio, June 23, 2010

From Van Wert Arpt to Van Wert Circle S Ar, this EF0 tornado ran 0.9 miles across Van Wert County on June 23, 2010, touching down at 9:50 PM EDT and reaching 50 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
June 23, 2010
Touchdown
9:50 PM EDT (01:50 UTC)
Lifted
9:51 PM EDT (01:51 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.9 miles (1.5 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Van Wert County
Touchdown point
40.830, -84.597
Lift-off point
40.830, -84.579
Record number
1006231950-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of severe storms advanced from Illinois and intensified further as it interacted with strong instability and shear. The line took on a line echo wave pattern (LEWP), resulting in an abundance of wind damage reports, including a focused micro-burst in Williams County. A brief tornado also developed in Van Wert County, resulting in some damage.

Emergency management officials surveyed an area of damage south of Van Wert and determined a circulation touched down in a wheat field a quarter mile west of Dustman Drive and US 127. The circulation continued along Dustman Road, with most of the damage being to trees. A few limbs fell onto homes, causing minor damage. In addition, some shingle damage occurred. The roof of a barn was torn off near US 127 as well. Winds are estimated to be between 80 and 85 mph with a maximum width of the tornado of around 50 yards.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:16 UTC and running to 04:13 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:01 UTC06:40 UTCFlash Flood WatchIWX
17:43 UTC19:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchIWX
17:45 UTC18:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWX
18:12 UTC18:40 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWX
23:16 UTC04:13 UTCTornado WatchIWX
02:10 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WarningIWX
02:31 UTC03:13 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWX
02:39 UTC03:13 UTCTornado WarningIWX

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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

1.8 hours before the tornado, 169 km from the path. June 24, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2010-06-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1480 joules per kilogram, CIN -28, lifted condensation level 1320 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 00:00Z on 2010-06-24The 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 88 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
1480 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2453 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1320 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
204 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.2 hours after it, 169 km from the path. June 24, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2010-06-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1484 joules per kilogram, CIN -34, lifted condensation level 866 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 2010-06-24The 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 162 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
1484 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-34 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1006 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
866 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
6.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N ConvoyVan Wert, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN
02:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S ScottVan Wert, OHTREE DOWN BLOCKING ROAD
02:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGDefianceDefiance, OHSEVERAL TREES DOWN
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGLattyPaulding, OHPOWER LINES AND SMALL TREE BRANCHES DOWN...TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR
02:59 UTCTSTM WND GST 62DelphosAllen, OH
03:24 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S WapakonetaAuglaize, OHPOWER POLES WERE SNAPPED IN HALF.
03:24 UTCTSTM WND DMGBucklandAuglaize, OHTREES DOWN ACROSS THE ROAD.
03:24 UTCTSTM WND DMGWapakonetaAuglaize, 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 2010 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 23, 2010

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 232:18 AM CDTEF1Bremer, IA0.335$10,000
June 233:22 AM CDTEF0Crawford, WI3.925$5,000
June 236:26 PM CDTEF1Cook, IL2.4200$100,000
June 238:59 PM EDTEF1Elkhart, IN11.850$300,000
June 239:09 PM EDTEF1Elkhart, IN1.050$500,000
June 239:14 PM EDTEF1Kosciusko, IN4.8150$300,000
June 239:15 PM EDTEF1Elkhart, IN3.5100$50,000
June 239:16 PM EDTEF0Elkhart, IN0.525$10,000
June 239:17 PM EDTEF0Elkhart, IN1.950$75,000
June 239:52 PM EDTEF0Washtenaw, MI3.775$75,000
June 2310:06 PM EDTEF1Monroe, MI11.5100$100,000

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.