EF1 tornado, Stoutsville to Tarlton, 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

5:56 PM EDT (21:56 UTC)

Lifted

6:01 PM EDT (22:01 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$90,000

Crop damage

$4,000

Counties

Pickaway and Fairfield counties

Touchdown point

39.565, -82.829

Lift-off point

39.555, -82.776

Record number

1009161556-01

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 in southwest Fairfield County near Dozer and Valentine Roads at 1656 EST. The tornado crossed into Pickaway County a half mile east of Valentine Road on Tarlton Road at 1659 EST. The tornado continued in Pickaway County until 1701 EST. The tornado lifted while near Tarlton. The tornado was on the ground for 1.76 miles in Fairfield County and on the ground for 1.09 miles in Pickaway County. The total path length of this tornado was 2.85 miles. The average path width was 200 yards. While in Fairfield County, two empty grain silo were picked up and tossed about 100 yards near Dozer and Valentine Roads. Some of the mechanical parts within the silo were ripped up from the foundation and tossed 15 yards from the silos. Further to the east, on the Fairfield County side of Tarlton Road, more significant damage occurred. Numerous trees were snapped and a few trees were uprooted in this area. A tree branch impaled the side of a home and was driven through the siding. Roof and siding damage also occurred at this location. At a neighboring property, up to twenty percent of the roof was lifted and windows had been blown out. There was also damage to the siding at this location as well. Further east along the south side of Tarlton Road in Pickaway County, additional structural and tree damage occurred. A parked tractor trailer was pushed over due to the tornado. A neighboring home suffered significant roof damage in which the roof became detached from the structure. An awning had been torn off the detached garage at this location and the entire garage structure was leaning slightly. Additionally, tree damage occurred further east along Tarlton Road. Property damage estimates in Fairfield County are around sixty-thousand dollars with crop damage estimated around two-thousand dollars. Property damage estimates in Pickaway County are around thirty-thousand dollars with crop damage estimated around two-thousand dollars.

The tornado touched down in southwest Fairfield County near Dozer and Valentine Roads at 1656 EST. The tornado crossed into Pickaway County a half mile east of Valentine Road on Tarlton Road at 1659 EST. The tornado continued in Pickaway County until 1701 EST. The tornado lifted while near Tarlton. The tornado was on the ground for 1.76 miles in Fairfield County and on the ground for 1.09 miles in Pickaway County. The total path length of this tornado was 2.85 miles. The average path width was 200 yards. While in Fairfield County, two empty grain silo were picked up and tossed about 100 yards near Dozer and Valentine Roads. Some of the mechanical parts within the silo were ripped up from the foundation and tossed 15 yards from the silos. Further to the east, on the Fairfield County side of Tarlton Road, more significant damage occurred. Numerous trees were snapped and a few trees were uprooted in this area. A tree branch impaled the side of a home and was driven through the siding. Roof and siding damage also occurred at this location. At a neighboring property, up to twenty percent of the roof was lifted and windows had been blown out. There was also damage to the siding at this location as well. Further east along the south side of Tarlton Road in Pickaway County, additional structural and tree damage occurred. A parked tractor trailer was pushed over due to the tornado. A neighboring home suffered significant roof damage in which the roof became detached from the structure. An awning had been torn off the detached garage at this location and the entire garage structure was leaning slightly. Additionally, tree damage occurred further east along Tarlton Road. Property damage estimates in Fairfield County are around sixty-thousand dollars with crop damage estimated around two-thousand dollars. Property damage estimates in Pickaway County are around thirty-thousand dollars with crop damage estimated around two-thousand dollars.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:28 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:03 UTC.

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.

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:57 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.