EF0 tornado, Girard to Sodom, Ohio, August 5, 2012

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

August 5, 2012

Touchdown

2:35 PM EDT (18:35 UTC)

Lifted

2:45 PM EDT (18:45 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.5 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

County

Trumbull County

Touchdown point

41.164, -80.704

Lift-off point

41.175, -80.627

Record number

1208051235-01

A trailing cold front associated with an area of low pressure over Ontario moved across Northern Ohio during the afternoon hours. Low level convergence and moisture were enhanced along the front and combined to form a brief EF0 tornado out of a line of showers. The shallow tornado circulation was not visible on regional radars but numerous reports of the tornado were relayed from local law enforcement.

An EF0 tornado touched down in Girard, Ohio at the intersection of Park Avenue and Smithsonian Street. Maximum winds were estimated between 60 and 70 mph. The storm tracked east northeast at approximately 25 mph to Warner Road east of Loganway Avenue. The tornado was in contact with the ground intermittently during its 4 mile path length from Girard across Liberty Township. The damage path was generally 25 yards in width. Most of the damage occurred to trees. Trees were snapped and uprooted. At least 4 cars were damaged by falling trees. Branches were downed. Minor damage was also observed to roof tops, chimneys, signs and out buildings.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:27 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 Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:35 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 2012 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

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.