EF2 tornado, Galion, Ohio, November 5, 2017

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

November 5, 2017

Touchdown

5:00 PM EST (22:00 UTC)

Lifted

5:03 PM EST (22:03 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$750,000

County

Crawford County

Touchdown point

40.728, -82.797

Lift-off point

40.732, -82.777

Record number

1711051600-01

A cold front moved across the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes on the afternoon of Sunday, November 5th, 2017. Unseasonably warm and humid air was in place across the region ahead of the front. The cold front gradually progressed across the Ohio Valley and thunderstorms initiated and swept east ahead of the front. The storms formed in a very strong wind field and allowed the storms to move very rapidly east at speeds of 60 to 80 mph. A large macroburst formed and swept east just south of Cleveland and produced winds in excess of 100 mph. The most concentrated damage stretched from southern Lorain County across Cuyahoga County and into northern Summit, northern Portage and southern Geauga Counties. A 105 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured at Aurora in Portage County. In addition to the damaging winds, at least 13 tornados were reported. Three of the tornadoes reached EF2 intensity with eight EF1 tornadoes and two EF0 tornadoes. Tens of thousands of trees were downed by these storms and widespread power outages occurred. In the Cleveland area alone, over 100,000 electric customers lost power. It took several days for power to be completely restored. Dozens of homes, buildings and barns were damaged or destroyed by the tornadoes.

An EF1 tornado touched down in Galion near the intersection of Orange and Grand Streets. Many trees in the area were snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued east northeast across the city and damaged three homes as it crossed Union Street. Two of the homes lost some facia, siding and roofing but the third had a fallen tree damage a wall. A warehouse on Market Street lost a section of roofing. A second warehouse along Columbus Street also lost some roofing material. A few blocks to the east two homes were damaged on South Washington Street. One of the homes had it's roof detached and the second lost some roofing and siding material. The tornado then intensified to EF2 as it crossed the southern end of Pierce Street. At least four properties on Pierce Street were damaged. Three of the homes were classified as having major damage and had their roofs torn off in addition to having broken windows and lost siding. Two of the properties also had detached garages destroyed. The fourth house had a porch damaged. Significant damage also occurred a block to the east along Riblet Street. An auto repair shop lots it's roof and had three masonry walls collapse. Bricks from the building were found of the roofs of houses nearby. Three other commercial buildings on Riblet Street lost large sections of roofing. One of the three also sustained damage to an exterior wall. Four homes were damaged on the southern end of East Street. One of the homes sustained major damage in the form of a detached roof. The other three houses sustained lesser amounts of roof and siding damage. The tornado continued east for another block and finally lifted as it reached Walnut Street. Many trees, limbs and utility poles were downed along the damage path which was just over a mile in length and up to 200 yards in width. A total of 21 structures were damaged in Galion with one destroyed and five sustaining major damage. There were no injuries.

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

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 tornado watch, issued at 17:10 UTC and running to 00:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Mansfield (MFD), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:59 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 2017 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

23 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.