EF1 tornado, Berlin to Sugar Creek, Ohio, June 5, 2010

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

June 5, 2010

Touchdown

2:40 PM EDT (18:40 UTC)

Lifted

3:00 PM EDT (19:00 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

12.8 miles (20.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$550,000

Counties

Holmes and Tuscarawas counties

Touchdown point

40.570, -81.820

Lift-off point

40.500, -81.594

Record number

1006051240-01

A stationary frontal system stretched across the lower Great Lakes on the morning of Saturday, June 5th. This resulted in a very warm and humid airmass over northern Ohio. Outflow boundaries from earlier storms interacted with the stationary front to initiate thunderstorm development during the afternoon hours across inland northern Ohio. One of the stronger thunderstorms produced tornadoes in Richland and Holmes Counties. There were also a few reports of straight line thunderstorm wind damage. A rapidly deepening area of low pressure moved quickly east across southern lower Michigan during the evening hours. This low eventually moved across Lake Erie during the early morning hours of the 6th. Showers and thunderstorms developed across northern Indiana during the evening hours. These storms intensified and moved east along the stationary front and into Northwest Ohio. A devastating EF4 tornado developed over Wood County a little before midnight. This tornado moved into Ottawa County before dissipating. Seven people were killed and dozens of homes destroyed by the tornado. A weaker tornado also moved across portions of Lucas County. A third round of storms developed during the early morning hours of the 6th ahead of a cold front trailing the low. These storms moved across northern Ohio and produced pockets of damage. An EF1 tornado occurred in Ashtabula County around daybreak. A total of five tornadoes occurred in northern Ohio on June 5th and 6th. These tornadoes killed seven people, injured dozens and destroyed or damaged over a 100 homes. A school and a public administration building were also leveled. Damage estimates easily topped $100 million.

A nearly stationary frontal boundary across the upper Ohio valley was the focus for severe thunderstorms. A few supercells developed along the front with one severe thunderstorm producing a tornado in Tuscarawas county Ohio. Scattered severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding also occurred over eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia.

An EF1 tornado touched down two miles northwest of Berlin around 2:40 pm EDT. The tornado then moved southeast to Walnut Creek and eventually moved into Tuscarawas County near Sugar Creek. This tornado did not appear to be in contact with the ground the entire length of the damage path. The damage path in Holmes County was nearly nine miles in length and up to 100 yards in width. Damage occurred to around a dozen homes and buildings along the damage path. Most of the damage was from lost roofing or siding. A camper trailer was blown over and a garage was also knocked off of it's foundation. Some large signs were torn off of the roof of a business located east of Berlin. The signs landed in a nearby parking lot and damaged at least eight cars. Dozens of trees and at least two utility poles were knocked down along the damage path.

An NWS storm survey found this tornado developed in Holmes county, Ohio around 2 miles south of Walnut Creek and moved into Tuscarawas county one half mile west of SR 93 near SR 39 (See Storm Data for Ohio, North for more information on the beginning portion of this tornado in Holmes county) at 1355EST. This supercell tornado was rated an EF1 with maximum winds of 95 MPH and a maximum width of 100 yards. The tornado dissipated about 3 miles east of Sugercreek at 1400EST. Damage was found to 6 homes and 7 businesses with 2 businesses suffering moderate damage. Numerous trees were snapped, power lines and telephone poles were knocked down, and signs destroyed. A 12 foot aluminum boat was lifted one quarter mile and dropped in a tree.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:33 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:12 UTC and running to 22:09 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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.

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:41 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 2010 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

42 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.