EF2 tornado, Wooster to Riceland, 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

5:26 PM EDT (21:26 UTC)

Lifted

5:45 PM EDT (21:45 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

11.5 miles (18.5 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35 million

County

Wayne County

Touchdown point

40.773, -81.963

Lift-off point

40.797, -81.746

Record number

1009161526-01

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.

A tornado touched down in Wayne County two miles southwest of downtown Wooster around 5:26 pm. This tornado strengthened to EF2 intensity and continued on the ground for over 11 miles before finally lifting two miles west of Dalton. Extensive damage occurred along the damage path with dozens of homes and buildings damaged. After the initial touchdown, the tornado quickly intensified to an EF2 as it continued on the ground to the east northeast. The tornado crossed Prairie Lane and Timken Road and then moved across St. Mary's Cemetery. Damage at the cemetery was extensive with 80 of 81 large trees knocked down and over two hundred gravestones broken or toppled. From the cemetery, the tornado crossed Madison Avenue and moved across the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). Significant damage occurred on the OADRC campus with several buildings severely damaged. A laboratory in one the buildings was destroyed. Two historic homes on the property sustained significant roof damage and several greenhouses were destroyed. Two barns and a machine shop were also leveled. The 102 year old Secrest Arboretum on the campus lost over 800 trees and many research projects were damaged or destroyed. The tornado tossed and destroyed several vehicles and a lot of farm machinery was also damaged or destroyed. From the OARDC campus, the tornado continued east along Secrest Road damaging or destroying several homes and buildings. The tornado weakened to EF1 intensity as it crossed Sylvan Road and to an EF0 as it crossed Barnard Road. The tornado then remained either an EF0 or EF1 until it lifted near the intersection of Kidron Road and Old Lincoln Way just west of Dalton. A total of nine homes were either destroyed or sustained major damage. Another 90 homes sustained lesser amounts of damage. In addition, at least 50 barns, garages and other outbuildings were damaged of destroyed. Thousands of trees were also toppled along the damage path which was up to 150 yards in width. Twenty eight utility poles were knocked down in Wooster alone and high tension transmission lines were also torn down by the tornado. The downed transmission lines affected four substations and resulted in around a third of Wayne County loosing power right after the tornado. The OARDC campus was closed for over a week and two local school districts had to close on September 17th because of the power outages. Only one very minor injury was reported.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:22 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 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 0.02 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.

Wooster (BJJ), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:24 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.