EF2 tornado, Mark Center to Jewell, Ohio, August 24, 2016

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

August 24, 2016

Touchdown

6:28 PM EDT (22:28 UTC)

Lifted

6:34 PM EDT (22:34 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.2 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Defiance County

Touchdown point

41.323, -84.380

Lift-off point

41.346, -84.340

Record number

1608241628-01

34 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DTX and NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• double wide home lifted off blocks. was strapped down. southern edge of tornado circulation
• healthy hardwood completely snapped off
• older farmhouse with severe damage. garage destroyed.
• same property, just north of farm house 50 yds.

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

A unique combination of extreme low level moisture and a passing upper level disturbance provided the trigger for severe storms. Even though the clouds remained in place for most of the day and it did not get very warm, there was just enough instability to allow storms to develop. There was also a high degree of shear in the lowest levels of the atmosphere, which allowed multiple tornadoes to form. No other forms of severe weather occurred during the event.

The tornado touched down roughly 1/5 mile west of the intersection of Road 192 and Road 220, in Paulding county, in a wooded area next to a residence. The tornado tracked generally in a northeasterly direction causing extensive structural damage to homes, barns, trees, and crops throughout the entirety of the path. The tornado crossed into southwestern Defiance county before dissipating a few minutes later near the intersection of County Roads 33 and 122. Damage in Paulding county was rated up to an EF2, with damage in Defiance county peaking at EF1. The total length of the tornado across the two counties was nearly four and one half miles with peak estimated winds of 130 mph.

A survey conducted along with eyewitness reports indicate a funnel cloud made multiple touchdowns along this path. The initial touchdown was northeast of Defiance along Christy Road. Damage in this area increased in intensity to EF2 north of Defiance along Route 66. Damage in this area consisted of structural with a roof blown off of a business and transmission lines blown down. The tornado tracked further northeast where damage was noted along Flory Road, east of Route 66. Damage here consisted of roof damage to a residence and collapse of a storage building to the east of the home. The end of the damage path was located north of the intersection of Carpenter Road and Flory Road where tree branches were broken off. Maximum winds were estimated between 120 and 125 mph.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS IWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:59 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:39 UTC and running to 00:54 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Defiance (DFI), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:26 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 2016 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.