EF3 tornado, Xenia Port Xenia Arp to Gladstone, Ohio, May 14, 2014

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 14, 2014

Touchdown

5:44 PM EDT (21:44 UTC)

Lifted

6:03 PM EDT (22:03 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

8.9 miles (14.4 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Greene County

Touchdown point

39.681, -83.848

Lift-off point

39.775, -83.733

Record number

1405141544-01

Numerous thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a slow moving cold front during the afternoon and evening. These storms were capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes.

The tornado initially touched down in a field just west of Stringtown Road, where minor tree damage occurred. Damage in this area was consistent with wind speeds around 75 miles per hour. The tornado continued across Highway 35 and Federal Road, where a farmstead was struck. A barn at this location sustained heavy damage, with much of the roof being removed as well as some wall failure. Wind speeds at this location were estimated to be around 85 miles per hour. |The tornado then crossed Highway 72 and damaged a property heavily. At this location, several fences and outbuildings were completely destroyed. The residential home had windows blown out and significant roof damage. Roof damage was also seen on nearby barns, and several large trees on the property were snapped off and broken. A trailer was also tipped over. Wind speeds at that location were estimated to be around 105 miles per hour. ||On nearby Turnbull Road near a stone quarry, the tornado heavily damaged another property. Here, a detached garage was completely destroyed. A small pickup was briefly lifted and dragged from its location in the garage to the middle of a field about 75 yards away. Significant roof damage was found to the home at the property, with numerous uprooted trees. A lawn tractor was thrown and deposited several hundred yards away. A convergent pattern in the field debris and bean stubble just to the south of this property showed the path of the actual tornado. Wind speeds at this location were estimated to be 125 miles per hour. ||The tornado then crossed the stone quarry and intensified, hitting a farmstead on barrier road directly. Here, complete loss of a residential home built in the 1880���s was observed. All exterior walls failed and the home collapsed, which led to very little interior wall integrity remaining. A close inspection of the foundation found very little reinforcement for the exterior walls. Healthy hardwood trees were debarked and reduced to trunks with only stubs of large branches remaining. Several large grain silos were completely lifted and thrown well downstream up to a half mile away. Based on damage surveyed at this location, the maximum estimated wind speed of this tornado was 145 miles per hour. The tornado then hit another residence on Barber Road, where portions of the exterior walls were removed as well as the roof. Extensive mud spatter covered all four sides of the residence. ||From there, the tornado weakened considerably as it moved parallel to Townsley Road and debris from upstream locations covered farm fields as it fell out of the weakening circulation. A barn on Townsley Road suffered minor roof damage, with winds estimated here at 80 miles per hour. The tornado then weakened further and lifted very close to the Greene and Clark County line.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:23 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:25 UTC and running to 00:43 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:26 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.

Springfield (SGH), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:42 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 2014 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.