Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2013
EF0 tornado, Wapakoneta Arpt, Ohio, June 12, 2013
This EF0 tornado ran 2.3 miles across Auglaize County on June 12, 2013, touching down at 12:03 AM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $350,000 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
- June 12, 2013
- Touchdown
- 12:03 AM EDT (04:03 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:06 AM EDT (04:06 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 2.3 miles (3.7 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $350,000
- County
- Auglaize County
- Touchdown point
- 40.498, -84.297
- Lift-off point
- 40.491, -84.253
- Record number
- 1306122203-03
What the Weather Service recorded
An organized line of convection moved across portions of central Indiana and Ohio during the late evening hours of June 12, lasting into the early morning hours of June 13. The main threats from these storms were damaging winds and isolated weak tornadoes.
The tornado touched down on the north side of State Route 219 east of New Knoxville. The tornado tracked east-southeast where minor damage was done to the north side of the administrative building at the Neil Armstrong Airport. A large amount of sheet metal and tree limbs were deposited on the runway. Further along the path, the tornado damaged six houses and three barns and uprooted trees. One barn was 80 percent destroyed. At the end of the tornado track, a double wide mobile home was picked up and tossed 100 feet to the north on its side. Based on the damage surveyed, the maximum wind speed from this tornado was estimated to be 75 miles per hour.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:02 UTC and running to 05:50 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:02 UTC | 05:50 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | ILN |
| 03:15 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 03:52 UTC | 04:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 04:13 UTC | 04:35 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 04:25 UTC | 04:38 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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 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.
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z
4.1 hours before the tornado, 125 km from the path. June 13, 2013.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2978 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -57 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3385 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1256 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 284 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 11.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.6 K/km
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z
7.9 hours after it, 125 km from the path. June 13, 2013.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 828 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -86 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 518 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1110 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 144 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 143 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 3.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The radar
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:03 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:27 UTC | TORNADO | Willshire | Van Wert, OH | AN EF-0 TORNADO WITH WINDS UP TO 85 MPH WENT THROUGH THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF WILLSHIRE AND DAMAGED 13 HOMES. |
| 03:35 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Rockford | Mercer, OH | BRIEF EF0 TOUCHDOWN CAUSED DAMAGE TO LARGE ALUMINUM BARNS WITH COLLATERAL IMPACT DAMAGE TO SURROUNDING STRUCTURES. |
| 03:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Nw Rockford | Mercer, OH | SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE TO BARN AND ANOTHER NEARBY BUILDING |
| 03:40 UTC | WALL CLOUD | 3 N Kalida | Putnam, OH | WALL CLOUD WITH RAPIDLY RISING SCUD...TOO DARK TO SEE ROTATION |
| 03:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Mendon | Mercer, OH | A ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF OF A HOME...TREE BRANCHES WERE BLOWN ONTO ANOTHER ROOF...AND A RADIO ANTENNA WAS BLOWN DOWN DUE TO THUNDERSTORM WINDS. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. PHOTO RELAYED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 03:57 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 5 Nw St. Marys | Auglaize, OH | |
| 04:00 UTC | WALL CLOUD | Elida | Allen, OH | ROTATING WALL CLOUD IN NW ALLEN COUNTY NEAR ELIDA |
| 04:01 UTC | TSTM WND GST 63 | 3 Sw St. Marys | Auglaize, OH | |
| 04:01 UTC | TSTM WND GST 42 | Columbus Grove | Putnam, OH | |
| 04:03 UTC | TORNADO | 1 E New Knoxville | Auglaize, OH | EF0 WITH 2.3 MILE PATH LENGTH. DAMAGE TO BUILDING AT NEIL ARMSTRONG AIRPORT, 6 HOUSES, 3 BARNS, NUMEROUS TREES. MOBILE HOME TOSSED 100 FEET. |
| 04:05 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | Elida | Allen, OH | |
| 04:07 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Wapakoneta | Auglaize, OH | NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES DOWN |
| 04:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Wsw Wapakoneta | Auglaize, OH | SEMI TRAILER BLOWN OVER WEST OF WAPAKONETA ON ROUTE 33. |
| 04:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Fort Loramie | Shelby, OH | POWER POLES DOWN |
| 04:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | St. Marys | Auglaize, OH | POWER POLES SNAPPED ON ROUTE 364. |
| 04:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Wapakoneta | Auglaize, OH | SEMI TRAILOR OVERTURNED AT WALMART JUST WEST OF I-75 IN WAPAKONETA. TREES DOWN IN THE CITY OF WAPAKONETA. |
| 04:11 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Botkins | Shelby, OH | ROOFS DAMAGED AND BARN WALL COLLAPSED DUE TO STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. |
| 04:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 E New Knoxville | Auglaize, OH | BUILDING DESTROYED NEAR NEIL ARMSTRONG AIRPORT. |
| 04:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Alger | Hardin, OH | TREES DOWN |
| 04:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Uniopolis | Auglaize, OH | BUILDING DESTROYED. |
| 04:28 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Roundhead | Hardin, OH | TREES DOWN |
| 04:33 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | 1 Ssw Kenton | Hardin, OH | |
| 04:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Bradford | Miami, OH | LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN |
| 04:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Kenton | Hardin, OH | TREES AND POWER POLES DOWN |
| 04:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Port Jefferson | Shelby, OH | LARGE TREE DOWN |
| 04:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Sidney | Shelby, OH | 4 INCH TREE LIMB DOWN |
| 04:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 51 | 3 S Bellefontaine | Logan, OH | |
| 05:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Zanesfield | Logan, OH | TREES AND POWER POLES BLOWN DOWN. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 12, 2013
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 12 | 4:08 PM CDT | EF3 | Wright, IA | 6.2 | 200 | $500,000 | ||
| June 12 | 4:19 PM CDT | EF1 | Wright, IA | 5.0 | 125 | $20,000 | ||
| June 12 | 4:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Wright, IA | 1.1 | 50 | |||
| June 12 | 4:32 PM CDT | EF1 | DeKalb, IL | 2.3 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| June 12 | 4:32 PM CDT | EF2 | Franklin, IA | 5.2 | 300 | $300,000 | ||
| June 12 | 4:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, IA | 3.4 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| June 12 | 4:53 PM CDT | EF0 | Franklin, IA | 1.3 | 125 | |||
| June 12 | 4:56 PM CDT | EF0 | Franklin, IA | 1.1 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| June 12 | 6:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Jo Daviess, IL | 0.5 | 20 | |||
| June 12 | 6:53 PM CDT | EF2 | Carroll, IL | 6.6 | 880 | 1 | ||
| June 12 | 7:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Kankakee, IL | 0.2 | 50 | $35,000 | ||
| June 12 | 11:27 PM EDT | EF0 | Van Wert, OH | 0.6 | 80 | |||
| June 12 | 11:35 PM EDT | EF0 | Mercer, OH | 0.1 | 100 | $40,000 | ||
| June 12 | 11:55 PM EDT | EF0 | Henry, OH | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| June 12 | 11:59 PM EDT | EF1 | Henry, OH | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| June 12 | 12:02 AM EDT | EF1 | Henry, OH | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| June 12 | 12:03 AM EDT | EF0 | Henry, OH | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| June 12 | 12:03 AM EDT | EF0 | Henry, OH | 0.3 | 15 | |||
| June 12 | 12:25 AM EDT | EF0 | Wood, OH | 0.9 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| June 12 | 1:15 AM EDT | EF0 | Delaware, OH | 0.2 | 50 | $200,000 |
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.