EF0 tornado, Willshire to Willshire Osborn Arp, Ohio, June 12, 2013

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

June 12, 2013

Touchdown

11:27 PM EDT (03:27 UTC)

Lifted

11:30 PM EDT (03:30 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.6 miles (1.0 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Van Wert County

Touchdown point

40.747, -84.802

Lift-off point

40.745, -84.790

Record number

1306122127-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• 2 large trees laying to the southeast Survey completed by Van Wert County EMA Director
• tree snap off laying north, a 4 sale reality sign was lifted and carried 70 mile NE to Finday, Ohio here it was found in the eve of a house. Survey Completed by Van Wert County EMA Director
• Witness observed tornado come to the ground snapping off the top half of a 30 foot pine tree and 30 foot maple tree.
• Front porch ripped off home. Minor damage to roof of home.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Influenced by a highly unstable, but strongly capped atmosphere ahead of a frontal boundary moving out of Illinois, the combination of 3000 to 4000 j/kg surface based CAPE, mid-level lapse rates between 8 and 9 C/km and 0-6 km deep layer shear of 35 to 55 knots set the stage for rapid supercellular development. The convection transitioned to clusters of bowing segments as storms congealed producing an increased risk for high end damaging wind. Broad, but strong rotation established quickly in the initial storms, allowing for rapid production of hail, some exceeding gold ball size. Numerous funnel clouds were reported in the early stages of the event, indicating conditions were favorable for tornadic development. However, the development of tornadoes was severely limited due to just enough mixed layer inhibition in the lowest levels.

A circulation touched down on the west side of Willshire, along State Road 81 near the Indiana/Ohio State Line. The tornado traveled southeast down Green Street to the intersection of Green Street and State Route 49. An eyewitness observed the funnel make contact with the ground in his yard, snap off two large trees and continue down the street. The survey revealed additional tree damage along the path. Another eyewitness observed condensation vortices being injected into the funnel as his garage was rolled off its foundation. A portion of a house roof was removed and thrown over a neighbor���s home. A total of 13 homes suffered varying degrees of damage. The circulation was on the ground less than 3 minutes with a maximum width of 80 yards and maximum wind speeds around 85 mph. The same storm continued into Mercer County and later produced another weak tornado.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:06 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:00 UTC and running to 05:51 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 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 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 Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:28 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 2013 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.