Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2013

EF0 tornado, Harlem Spgs to Amsterdam, Ohio, July 19, 2013

Name: EF0 tornado, Harlem Spgs to Amsterdam, Ohio, July 19, 2013
Start: 2013-07-19T21:07:00.000Z
End: 2013-07-19T21:09:00.000Z
Location: Harlem Spgs to Amsterdam, Ohio

From Harlem Spgs to Amsterdam, this EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Carroll County on July 19, 2013, touching down at 5:07 PM EDT and reaching 175 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF0
Date: July 19, 2013
Touchdown: 5:07 PM EDT (21:07 UTC)
Lifted: 5:09 PM EDT (21:09 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width: 175 yards (160 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
County: Carroll County
Touchdown point: 40.509, -80.949
Lift-off point: 40.512, -80.939
Record number: 1307191507-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An upper level disturbance moved southeast across the upper Ohio Valley and produced a few severe thunderstorms and flash flooding as well. A weak and short lived tornado occurred in Carroll county, Ohio.

An NWS storm survey found tornado damage mainly to trees along the path just over one half mile north of Amsterdam. Maximum EF-0 winds were estimated at 85 MPH. A tree fell on a porch roof and destroyed it, with numerous power lines down. Power was not restored for several days. The maximum path width was 175 yards.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Pittsburgh, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jul 19, 4:17 PM EDT, 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 4:17 PM EDT, 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
417 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

.SYNOPSIS...
WARM AND HUMID CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH SATURDAY. A COLD FRONT
WILL BRING THUNDERSTORMS ON SATURDAY FOLLOWED BY DRY AND NORMAL
CONDITIONS.

&&

.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM SATURDAY MORNING/...
UPDATED FORECAST TO MENTION FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND INCREASE POPS
TO CATEGORICAL ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-70 THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING
HOURS. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOWS:

UNSTABLE CONDITIONS AND ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL TRIGGER
CONVECTION TODAY. MORE COVERAGE THAN YESTERDAY THROUGH THIS
EVENING BEFORE HEATING DIMINISHES. POPS MAINTAINED AS CHANCE, BUT
PW VALUES ARE QUITE HIGH SO ANY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING
TORRENTIAL RAINS.

&&

.SHORT TERM /6 AM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY/...
CDFNT XPCD TO BE LOCATED ALONG GRTLKS ON SAT MRNG WITH ATTENDANT
CNVCTN ONGOING. S OF THE BNDRY...ABUNDANT MSTR WILL RMN IN PLACE.
MRNG FOG AND STRATUS WILL BE PSBL... BUT MODELS SUGGEST PCPN AT
START OF THE PD WILL BE CONFINED TO FAR NRN ZONES IN PROXIMITY TO
CDFNT.

INSOLATION DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE SGFNTLY LMTD BY MRNG CLDS...SO
AMPLE HEATING OF VERY MOIST AMS XPCD TO LEAD TO STG INSTBY AMID
STEEPENING MID- AND LOW-LVL LAPSE RATES. CNVCTN ALONG SFC BNDRY
WILL BCM MORE VIGOROUS...AND TSTMS WILL DVLP AHEAD OF THE BNDRY AS
MODEST CAP ERODES. CURRENT EXPECTATION IS THAT SVR WX WILL BE PSBL
BY 17-18Z SAT AFTN AS AMS DESTABILIZES AND SHEAR INCRS WITH APRCH
OF SHRTWV TROF. GIVEN DEG OF INSTBY AND THERMODYNAMIC AND DYNAMIC
PROFILES...ENVIRONMENT WILL BE PRIME FOR PRODUCTION OF BOTH LRG
HAIL AND DMGG WIND GUSTS.

CDFNT WILL CROSS THE REGION SUN EVE...LKLY DRIVEN ALONG BY THE
CNVCTN. AMS IN ITS WAKE WILL DRY IN LMTD FASHION.

&&

.LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/...
SFC HIPRES BUILDS INTO THE RGN SUN NGT AND MON...SHIFTING SFC
CDFNT S OF FCST AREA. BNDRY MOVES NWD MON AFTN AND TUE...WITH CHCS
FOR TSTMS INCRG AS LOW-LVL MSTR INCRS.

ERN CONUS WILL RMN UNDER INFLUENCE OF H5 TROF THRU MUCH OF THE WK.
THIS TROF WILL AID IN COOLER TEMPS THAN THOSE THIS WK. PCPN POTL
IS SOMEWHAT MORE UNCERTAIN DURG THIS TIME OWING TO DIFFERENCES IN
MODEL TIMING OF SHRTWV TROFS IN THE FLOW.

&&

.AVIATION /20Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...
THE HI RES MODELS ONCE AGAIN SUGGEST THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION. WHILE CONFIDENCE THAT ANY ONE
SITE WILL BE IMPACTED BY ANY STORMS REMAINS LOW...OPTED TO MENTION
VCTS AT THOSE SITES WHERE THE MODEL QPF SUGGESTED THERE COULD BE
DEVELOPMENT...SOUTHEASTERN OHIO/NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND ALONG
THE LAKE BREEZE.

.OUTLOOK...NON VFR IN PATCHY EARLY MORNING FOG. SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO CAUSE NON VFR CONDITIONS SATURDAY AND
TUESDAY.

&&

.PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MD...NONE.
OH...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR OHZ039>041-
     048>050-057>059-068-069.
PA...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR PAZ007-013-014-
     020-021-029-031.
WV...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR WVZ001>004-012-
     021-022.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 19, 11:42 AM EDT, 5 hours 25 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1142 AM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

MDZ001-PAZ008-009-015-016-022-023-073>076-WVZ023-041-201545-
GARRETT-VENANGO-FOREST-CLARION-JEFFERSON PA-ARMSTRONG-INDIANA-
WESTMORELAND-WESTMORELAND RIDGES-FAYETTE-FAYETTE RIDGES-PRESTON-
TUCKER-
1142 AM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MARYLAND...NORTHWEST
PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
AND NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON. A
FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND TORRENTIAL RAIN.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND
LARGE HAIL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION LIKELY WILL BE NEEDED ON SATURDAY.

OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007-013-014-020-021-029-031-
WVZ001>004-012-021-022-201545-
TUSCARAWAS-CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-COSHOCTON-HARRISON-JEFFERSON OH-
MUSKINGUM-GUERNSEY-BELMONT-NOBLE-MONROE-MERCER-LAWRENCE-BUTLER-
BEAVER-ALLEGHENY-WASHINGTON-GREENE-HANCOCK-BROOKE-OHIO-MARSHALL-
WETZEL-MARION-MONONGALIA-
1142 AM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHWEST
PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...WEST CENTRAL
PENNSYLVANIA...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF
WEST VIRGINIA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

PLEASE LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR GO TO WEATHER.GOV ON THE
INTERNET FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOLLOWING HAZARDS.

   HEAT ADVISORY.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON. A
FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND TORRENTIAL RAIN.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND
LARGE HAIL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION LIKELY WILL BE NEEDED ON SATURDAY.

KRAMAR

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 19, 3:40 PM EDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
340 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

PAZ029-031-WVZ003-004-192015-
GREENE PA-MARSHALL WV-OHIO WV-WASHINGTON PA-
340 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT NORTHEASTERN MARSHALL...NORTHERN
GREENE...SOUTHEASTERN OHIO AND SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTIES...

AT 339 PM EDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF DALLAS...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH AND NICKEL SIZE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS
STORM. HEAVY RAIN WILL POND WATER ON ROADS AND QUICKLY FILL DITCHES
AND SMALL STREAMS.  INTENSE LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED FROM THESE
STORMS. MOVE INDOORS WHEN A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES. DO NOT SEEK
SHELTER UNDER TREES.

  LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  DALLAS...             SWARTS...             WAYNESBURG...
  MARIANNA...

PLEASE REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER BY CALLING...412-262-1988...POSTING
TO THE NWS PITTSBURGH FACEBOOK PAGE...OR USING TWITTER
@NWSPITTSBURGH.

LAT...LON 4016 8009 3988 8006 3992 8061 4004 8064

15

Special weather statement, Jul 19, 3:51 PM EDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 19, 4:01 PM EDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
401 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0348 PM     HAIL             1 ENE WOODSFIELD        39.77N  81.10W
07/19/2013  E1.00 INCH       MONROE             OH   PUBLIC

            TORRENTIAL RAIN AND HAIL

&&

EVENT NUMBER PBZ1302583

KRAMAR

Local storm report, Jul 19, 4:44 PM EDT, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
444 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0154 PM     TSTM WND DMG     WORTHINGTON             39.46N  80.26W
07/19/2013                   MARION             WV   BROADCAST MEDIA

            TREES DOWN

&&

EVENT NUMBER PBZ1302584

KRAMAR

Special weather statement, Jul 19, 4:47 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
447 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

OHZ058-192115-
GUERNSEY OH-
447 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT EASTERN GUERNSEY COUNTY...

AT 443 PM EDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES NORTHEAST
OF BYESVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH AND NICKEL SIZE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS
STORM.

  LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  BYESVILLE...          OLD WASHINGTON...

PLEASE REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER BY CALLING...412-262-1988...POSTING
TO THE NWS PITTSBURGH FACEBOOK PAGE...OR USING TWITTER
@NWSPITTSBURGH.

LAT...LON 4019 8135 3998 8124 3994 8153 4003 8157

15

Local storm report, Jul 19, 4:54 PM EDT, 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
454 PM EDT FRI JUL 19 2013

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0231 PM     HAIL             2 WNW MOUNT VERNON      39.54N  79.87W
07/19/2013  E1.00 INCH       MONONGALIA         WV   BROADCAST MEDIA

            DIME TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL ALONG KINGWOOD PIKE

&&

EVENT NUMBER PBZ1302585

KRAMAR

The air that afternoon

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.

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 12:00Z

9.1 hours before the tornado, 72 km from the path. July 19, 2013.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1582 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -22 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2303 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1008 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

New Philadelphia (PHD), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:05 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2013 tornado in Ohio Every tornado in Ohio since 1950 Warnings in force in Ohio now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 19, 2013

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 19	2:00 PM EDT	EF1	Piscataquis, ME	2.1	300
July 19	3:45 PM EDT	EF0	Broward, FL	0.1	10	3
July 19	7:31 PM EDT	EF0	Monroe, NY	0.3	10		$35,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.