Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2010
EF1 tornado, Buena Vista, Ohio, September 16, 2010
This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Hocking County on September 16, 2010, touching down at 6:09 PM EDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $16,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- September 16, 2010
- Touchdown
- 6:09 PM EDT (22:09 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:10 PM EDT (22:10 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 1.0 miles (1.6 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $16,000
- County
- Hocking County
- Touchdown point
- 39.540, -82.693
- Lift-off point
- 39.540, -82.675
- Record number
- 1009161609-01
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 roof of a pole barn was lifted and carried away due to a tornado. Some roof remnants were found over a quarter of a mile away from the original structure. Two walls of the barn had also collapsed and a nearby dumpster was overturned. Additionally, significant tree damage occurred to large hardwood trees in the area. Minor roof damage occurred to a nearby home. Damage with this tornado was consistent with wind speeds around 90 miles per hour.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
10 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:59 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:12 UTC and running to 23:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:12 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | ILN |
| 21:37 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 21:59 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | ILN |
| 22:23 UTC | 23:03 UTC | Tornado Warning | ILN |
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
10.2 hours before the tornado, 97 km from the path. September 16, 2010.
- 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
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z
1.8 hours after it, 97 km from the path. September 17, 2010.
- 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
The surface observations
Lancaster (LHQ), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:53 UTC | 75 | 65 | 200° 15 kt | 20 | 1007.5 | |
| 21:18 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 180° 15 kt | 22 | 1007.1 | VCTS |
| 21:50 UTC | 75.2 | 66.2 | 240° 13 kt | 22 | 1007.8 | TS |
| 21:53 UTC | 75 | 65 | 240° 12 kt | 22 | 1007.8 | TS |
| 22:32 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 280° 9 kt | 15 | 1008.8 | |
| 22:53 UTC | 75 | 63 | 290° 12 kt | 15 | 1008.8 | |
| 23:53 UTC | 69 | 60 | 320° 11 kt | 17 | 1010.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:07 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:40 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 5 N Grove City | Franklin, OH | |
| 20:56 UTC | HAIL 1 | Grove City | Franklin, OH | |
| 21:35 UTC | TORNADO | West Rushville | Fairfield, OH | A 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. |
| 21:55 UTC | TORNADO | Tarlton | Fairfield, OH | A STORM SURVEY INDICATED AN EF1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 2 MILES WEST OF TARLTON. SPOTTY DAMAGE CONTINUED EAST THROUGH TARLTON INTO NORTHWEST HOCKING COUNTY. |
| 22:00 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Somerset | Perry, OH | CONFIRMED TORNADO BY NWS STORM SURVEY 3 MILES SOUTH OF SOMERSET IN PERRY COUNTY OHIO. MAGNITUDE EF2...110 TO 120 MPH. |
| 22:00 UTC | TORNADO | Somerset | Perry, OH | TORNADO REPORTED AT SOMERSET AND JUNCTION CITY. |
| 22:00 UTC | TORNADO | The Plains | Athens, OH | HIT TRAILER PARK AND OVERTURNED SEVERAL TRAILERS ON US 33 |
| 22:20 UTC | TORNADO | Crooksville | Perry, OH | CONFIRMED TORNADO BY NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM NEAR CROOKSVILLE IN PERRY COUNTY OHIO...BETWEEN 610 PM AND 630 PM EDT...MAGNITUDE EF1. |
| 22:39 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Sse Haydenville | Hocking, OH | ONE TREE DOWN ON MCDANIEL RD. |
| 22:48 UTC | HAIL 1 | Nelsonville | Athens, OH | |
| 22:54 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Nelsonville | Athens, OH | CONFIRMED TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTH OF NELSONVILLE AROUND 654 PM EDT. 3 MILES LONG AND 300 YARDS WIDE. MAGNITUDE EF2. |
| 22:54 UTC | TORNADO | 5 S Nelsonville | Athens, OH | ON PERRY RIDGE ROAD. |
| 23:00 UTC | TORNADO | The Plains | Athens, OH | HIT TRAILER PARK AND OVERTURNED SEVERAL TRAILERS ON US 33 |
| 23:15 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ene Athens | Athens, OH | AUTO TECH BUILDING IS GONE. DEBRIS EVERYWHERE. |
| 23:40 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Athens | Athens, OH |
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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 16 | 4:38 PM EDT | EF0 | Delaware, OH | 0.1 | 100 | $3,000 | ||
| September 16 | 5:26 PM EDT | EF2 | Wayne, OH | 11.5 | 150 | $35 million | ||
| September 16 | 5:33 PM EDT | EF0 | Kings, NY | 2.1 | 75 | $8.5 million | ||
| September 16 | 5:42 PM EDT | EF1 | Queens, NY | 4.0 | 100 | 1 | 1 | $17 million |
| September 16 | 5:52 PM EDT | EF0 | Fairfield, OH | 3.7 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| September 16 | 5:56 PM EDT | EF1 | Pickaway, OH | 2.9 | 200 | $90,000 | ||
| September 16 | 6:00 PM EDT | EF1 | Holmes, OH | 3.1 | 75 | $500,000 | ||
| September 16 | 6:00 PM EDT | EF2 | Perry, OH | 7.0 | 800 | 1 | $500,000 | |
| September 16 | 6:05 PM EDT | EF1 | Ocean, NJ | 2.2 | 250 | $25,000 | ||
| September 16 | 6:20 PM EDT | EF1 | Tuscarawas, OH | 5.0 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| September 16 | 6:21 PM EDT | EF1 | Perry, OH | 4.7 | 300 | $310,000 | ||
| September 16 | 6:54 PM EDT | EF2 | Athens, OH | 3.3 | 300 | 7 | $750,000 | |
| September 16 | 7:00 PM CDT | EF3 | Meigs, OH to WV | 9.1 | 500 | 1 | 16 | $2.5 million |
| September 16 | 8:25 PM EDT | EF1 | Wirt, WV | 0.7 | 175 | $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.