Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2010

EF0 tornado, Galena, Ohio, September 16, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Delaware County on September 16, 2010, touching down at 4:38 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3,000 of property damage.

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
September 16, 2010
Touchdown
4:38 PM EDT (20:38 UTC)
Lifted
4:39 PM EDT (20:39 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$3,000
County
Delaware County
Touchdown point
40.179, -82.892
Lift-off point
40.179, -82.890
Record number
1009161438-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong shortwave trough arrived during peak heating out ahead of a the cold front in a location that had received a couple hours of sunshine. A scattered to broken line of storms developed in an area of strong deep shear, which allowed for a high degree of organization with the storms.

The tornado touched down and moved briefly along Big Walnut Road near the Hoover Reservoir. Trees were damaged along the path due to the tornado. In addition, a few shingles were torn off of a house. Based on the damage, wind speeds were estimated around 75 miles per hour.

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:37 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:12 UTC and running to 21:28 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:12 UTC21:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchILN
19:35 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILN
20:32 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILN
20:37 UTC21:15 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 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 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

8.6 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. September 16, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2010-09-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 463 joules per kilogram, CIN -68, lifted condensation level 862 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 2010-09-16The 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 213 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
463 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-68 J/kg
Surface CAPE
246 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
862 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

3.4 hours after it, 114 km from the path. September 17, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2010-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -346, lifted condensation level 1650 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 2010-09-17The 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 59 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-346 J/kg
Surface CAPE
47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1650 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:40 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
20:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw PowellDelaware, OHTREES DOWN ON LIBERTY ROAD BETWEEN HOME AND HYATTS ROADS
20:21 UTCTSTM WND DMGLewis CenterDelaware, OHPORTION OF ROOF PEELED OFF THE OLENTANGY HIGH SCHOOL GYM
20:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ene PowellDelaware, OH*** 1 INJ *** TREE FELL ON HOME...CAUSING SEVERE DAMAGE TO ROOF. ONE WOMAN WAS TAKEN TO A NEARBY HOSPITAL FOR POSSIBLE CONCUSSION. SHE WAS TREATED AND RELEASED.
20:40 UTCHAIL 1.755 N Grove CityFranklin, OH
20:42 UTCTORNADO3 Sw GalenaDelaware, OHA STORM SURVEY INDICATED AN EFO TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GALENA AND CAUSED TREE DAMAGE IN THAT LOCATION.
20:56 UTCHAIL 1Grove CityFranklin, OH
21:20 UTCHAIL 1NewarkLicking, OH
21:35 UTCHAIL 1NewarkLicking, OH
21:35 UTCHAIL 1.75NewarkLicking, OH
21:35 UTCTORNADOWest RushvilleFairfield, OHA STORM SURVEY INDICATED AN EFO TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR WEST RUSHVILLE. TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORNADO. ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE ALSO OCCURRED ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORNADO.

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 September 16, 2010

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 165:26 PM EDTEF2Wayne, OH11.5150$35 million
September 165:33 PM EDTEF0Kings, NY2.175$8.5 million
September 165:42 PM EDTEF1Queens, NY4.010011$17 million
September 165:52 PM EDTEF0Fairfield, OH3.7150$10,000
September 165:56 PM EDTEF1Pickaway, OH2.9200$90,000
September 166:00 PM EDTEF1Holmes, OH3.175$500,000
September 166:00 PM EDTEF2Perry, OH7.08001$500,000
September 166:05 PM EDTEF1Ocean, NJ2.2250$25,000
September 166:09 PM EDTEF1Hocking, OH1.0150$16,000
September 166:20 PM EDTEF1Tuscarawas, OH5.0100$75,000
September 166:21 PM EDTEF1Perry, OH4.7300$310,000
September 166:54 PM EDTEF2Athens, OH3.33007$750,000
September 167:00 PM CDTEF3Meigs, OH to WV9.1500116$2.5 million
September 168:25 PM EDTEF1Wirt, WV0.7175$75,000

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.