EF2 tornado, Kimberly to New Floodwood, Ohio, September 16, 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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

September 16, 2010

Touchdown

6:54 PM EDT (22:54 UTC)

Lifted

6:58 PM EDT (22:58 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.3 miles (5.3 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

7

Property damage

$750,000

County

Athens County

Touchdown point

39.407, -82.251

Lift-off point

39.396, -82.191

Record number

1009161654-01

A cold front, in tandem with strong mid and upper level forcing, produced a severe weather outbreak in southeast Ohio into extreme western West Virginia during the late afternoon and evening of Thursday the 16th. The setup featured a 45 knot mid level flow and a 95 knot upper level jet. Matter of fact, a larger area of showers, associated with a warm front, had moved across southeast Ohio and West Virginia during the morning and midday hours. This kept the surface based instability at a minimum. However, new cells formed further west during the mid afternoon over western Ohio. It was this new cluster of convection that would intensify due to the strong mid and upper level dynamics. Several of the new cells formed and intensified on the southern or southwestern flank of the overall larger area of showers and thunderstorms. This area of convection stretched further to the northeast into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This allowed an unimpeded low level moisture inflow into the new development. Surface dew points ahead of the cold front reached into the mid 60s.||Most of the severe thunderstorms exhibited strong rotation, resulting in the spawning of 5 tornadoes. Four of these 5 tornadoes were in Ohio. One of the 4 Ohio tornadoes crossed from Fairfield County into western Perry County. Another 1 of the 4 crossed from Perry into northwestern Morgan County. One tornado patch was solely in western Athens County. The damage continued another 10 miles in Athens County from a strong rear flank downdraft. Finally, the last of the 4 tornadoes in Ohio crossed the Ohio River from northeastern Meigs County into southern Wood County in West Virginia. From storm surveys, this was the strongest tornado. The last tornado path in this outbreak was solely in western West Virginia. Luckily, there were no fatalities in southeastern Ohio. However, there was one death on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River.

A tornado touchdown was along Kimberly Road, about 4 miles from Nelsonville. The tornado reached maximum intensity along Matheny Road to State Route 691. Matheny Road is also called York Township Road 269. Damage was concentrated along Matheny Road and State Route 691. The low level circulation was evident in the damage along Matheny Road. Debris was strewn one way on the south side of the road, then in the opposite direction on the north side. One resident said, you could see stuff flying through the air. Then the noise got real loud and we ran into the house and into a closet. The house was just shaking. Several mobile homes were completely destroyed. Yet, some of these mobile homes were poorly anchored or not anchored at all. Many large softwood trees were uprooted or snapped at their trunks. Reports were received of several cows being lifted by the tornado. A hay bale weighing 1800 pounds was lofted into the air and set back down. The maximum wind gusts were estimated at 120 to 130 mph. A total of 7 people were injured. About 13 homes were destroyed, with dozens of other homes damaged.||Since 1950, this is only the second confirmed tornado in Athens County. The previous tornado was a F1 during May of 1980. However, prior to 1950, 3 tornadoes have been reported in Athens County, back in July of 1896, April of 1922, and June of 1937. The June 1937 tornado killed 3. The storm in 1896 was reported in Glouster. However, historical accounts also describe a tornado in the late 1800s that destroyed a large grove of sycamore trees in the city of Athens.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS RLX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:29 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:05 UTC and running to 00:14 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:20 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.

Albany (UNI), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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

14 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.