Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2014

EF0 tornado, Earlville to Hiram Rapids, Ohio, September 10, 2014

Name: EF0 tornado, Earlville to Hiram Rapids, Ohio, September 10, 2014
Start: 2014-09-10T21:29:00.000Z
End: 2014-09-10T21:32:00.000Z
Location: Earlville to Hiram Rapids, Ohio

From Earlville to Hiram Rapids, this EF0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Portage County on September 10, 2014, touching down at 5:29 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 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: September 10, 2014
Touchdown: 5:29 PM EDT (21:29 UTC)
Lifted: 5:32 PM EDT (21:32 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 1.0 miles (1.5 km)
Path width: 50 yards (46 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $40,000
County: Portage County
Touchdown point: 41.191, -81.377
Lift-off point: 41.200, -81.363
Record number: 1409101529-01

The damage survey

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

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A very strong area of low pressure moved northeast across the Central Great Lakes on September 10th. A warm front stretching southeast from this low lifted across northern Ohio causing showers and thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon. At least four weak tornadoes touched down in Summit and Portage Counties. Several funnel clouds were also reported in Wayne County.

The same thunderstorm that produced a weak tornado in Stow also produced a tornado a few miles away near the small village of Sugar Bush Knolls in western Portage County. This EF0 tornado initially touched down near the intersection of Spell Road and Judson Road. The tornado continued northeast for nearly a mile and crossed the Raccoon Hill Golf Club. The tornado eventually lifted after crossing Hudson Road. Many trees were downed along the damage patch which was up to 50 yards in width.

A very weak EF0 tornado touched down near Streetsboro. The touch down occurred just south of Lake Rockwell Road to the west of State Route 14. The tornado was on the ground for about a tenth of a mile and lifted before reaching State Route 14. The tornado downed one tree and tore the branches off a couple other trees. The damage path was no more than 20 yards in width.

An EF0 tornado touched down northwest of Hiram near Allyn Road. The tornado continued northeast on the ground for about three quarters of a mile to near Winchell Road and then lifted. A couple of homes along Winchell Road sustained minor damage. A few trees were uprooted and many tree branches broken along the damage patch which was no more than 50 yards in width.

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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Sep 10, 5:26 PM EDT, 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 10, 5:26 PM EDT, 3 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 10, 2:00 PM EDT, 3 hours 29 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
200 PM EDT WED SEP 10 2014

LEZ061-145>149-165>169-OHZ010>014-020>023-029>033-037-038-047-089-
PAZ001>003-111800-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM RIPLEY TO BUFFALO NY-
VERMILION TO AVON POINT OH-AVON POINT TO WILLOWICK OH-
WILLOWICK TO GENEVA-ON-THE LAKE OH-GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE TO CONNEAUT OH-
CONNEAUT OH TO RIPLEY NY-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM VERMILION TO AVON POINT-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM AVON POINT TO WILLOWICK-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM WILLOWICK TO GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE TO CONNEAUT-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM CONNEAUT OH TO RIPLEY NY-LORAIN-CUYAHOGA-
LAKE-GEAUGA-ASHTABULA INLAND-MEDINA-SUMMIT-PORTAGE-TRUMBULL-RICHLAND-
ASHLAND-WAYNE-STARK-MAHONING-MORROW-HOLMES-KNOX-ASHTABULA LAKESHORE-
NORTHERN ERIE-SOUTHERN ERIE-CRAWFORD PA-
200 PM EDT WED SEP 10 2014

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR LAKE ERIE...NORTH CENTRAL
OHIO...NORTHEAST OHIO AND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

LEZ142>144-162>164-OHZ003-006>009-017>019-027-028-036-111800-
MAUMEE BAY TO RENO BEACH OH-RENO BEACH TO THE ISLANDS OH-
THE ISLANDS TO VERMILION OH-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM MAUMEE BAY TO RENO BEACH-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM RENO BEACH TO THE ISLANDS-
LAKE ERIE OPEN WATERS FROM THE ISLANDS TO VERMILION-LUCAS-WOOD-
OTTAWA-SANDUSKY-ERIE OH-HANCOCK-SENECA-HURON-WYANDOT-CRAWFORD-MARION-
200 PM EDT WED SEP 10 2014

...TORNADO WATCH 501 IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR LAKE ERIE...NORTH CENTRAL
OHIO AND NORTHWEST OHIO.

.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.

   TORNADO WATCH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 10, 4:44 PM EDT, 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
444 PM EDT WED SEP 10 2014

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

0443 PM     TORNADO          RITTMAN                 40.97N 81.78W
09/10/2014                   WAYNE              OH   TRAINED SPOTTER

            REPORTED ON THE GROUND SOUTHEAST OF ROUTE 57.

&&

SJAMISON

The surface observations

Ravenna (POV), 10 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 Cleveland radar (KCLE), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:28 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2014 tornado in Ohio Every tornado in Ohio since 1950 Warnings in force in Ohio now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 10, 2014

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 10	2:40 AM CDT	EF1	Adair, MO	18.3	20
September 10	5:22 PM EDT	EF0	Summit, OH	0.5	50	$100,000
September 10	5:34 PM EDT	EF0	Portage, OH	0.1	20	$5,000
September 10	5:54 PM EDT	EF0	Portage, OH	0.8	50	$15,000

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.