EF1 tornado, Farmerstown, 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 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

September 16, 2010

Touchdown

6:00 PM EDT (22:00 UTC)

Lifted

6:05 PM EDT (22:05 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.1 miles (5.0 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Holmes County

Touchdown point

40.478, -81.755

Lift-off point

40.478, -81.695

Record number

1009161600-01

During the late morning hours on September 16th, a warm front lifted northward through Ohio allowing for a significant destabilization of the atmosphere. By early afternoon, a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for most of northern Ohio. Severe thunderstorms swept across Ohio ahead of a cold front beginning in the mid afternoon and lasting well into the evening. Two devastating tornadoes occurred in northern Ohio. An EF2 tornado touched down in Wayne County near Wooster. This tornado left an eleven and a half mile long damage path and damaged over a hundred homes and buildings. A second tornado touched down in southern Holmes County. This tornado was rated an EF1 and was on the ground for about three miles.

An EF1 tornado touched down in rural Clark Township near the intersection of Township Road 183 and Township Road 190. The tornado then moved east for just over three miles before lifting near the intersection of Township Roads 165 and 166. Several homes and buildings were damaged along the tornado path. Most of the damage was from lost roofing or siding, but a few small outbuildings were also leveled. Dozens of trees were toppled along the damage path which was up to 75 yards in width.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:12 UTC and running to 23:00 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.

New Philadelphia (PHD), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:58 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.