EF2 tornado, Seaman to Jones Corner, Ohio, March 2, 2012

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

March 2, 2012

Touchdown

5:33 PM EST (22:33 UTC)

Lifted

5:43 PM EST (22:43 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

11.1 miles (17.8 km)

Path width

330 yards (302 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

2

Property damage

$2.0 million

Crop damage

$25,000

County

Adams County

Touchdown point

38.811, -83.518

Lift-off point

38.842, -83.316

Record number

1203021633-01

Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon in a high wind shear environment ahead of a strengthening low pressure system. Many of these storms became severe, with large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds, and tornadoes all being the main threats.

The tornado touched down in an open field west of Greenlee Road, about 1.2 miles northwest of Seaman. The first notable signs of damage occurred to a nearby pole barn, which partially collapsed. The tornado then moved just north of due east, snapping and uprooting numerous trees and large branches along Greenlee Road. There, some of the tin building material from the aforementioned barn was deposited. Additional tree damage continued into a grove along Mount Leigh Road. The tornado then crossed State Route 247 north of its intersection with Mount Leigh Road, about one mile north of Seaman. On the east side of the highway, a roof was partially removed from a single story home. Directly behind this home, two pole barns sustained heavy damage. Farther east, an aerial survey revealed continuous heavy tree damage along West Fork Ohio Brush Creek. The tornado caused destruction of outbuildings and roof damage to a single story home on State Route 770, just west of its intersection with Old State Route 32. The tornado then lifted. Based on the damage surveyed, the maximum estimated wind speed of this tornado was 100 mph.

The tornado touched down just east of Highway 41, about 2 miles northeast of West Union. The tornado then traveled east northeast for just over 11 miles, destroying at least 5 mobile homes. Two homes were also damaged. One of these homes was built of brick. A 99 year old woman was in her mobile home in Tiffin Township when the tornado struck. She was injured from this tornado and passed away several days later. Two others were also injured from this tornado. A dozen cattle were killed and major power transmission poles were knocked over. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Based on the damage surveyed, the maximum estimated wind speed of this tornado was 125 miles per hour.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:08 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:05 UTC and running to 23:58 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Wilmington (ILN), 75 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:32 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

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 of them

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.