EF2 tornado, North Robinson to Roseland, Ohio, September 4, 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

September 4, 2017

Touchdown

10:42 PM EDT (02:42 UTC)

Lifted

11:02 PM EDT (03:02 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

16.7 miles (26.8 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$2.0 million

Counties

Crawford and Richland counties

Touchdown point

40.789, -82.877

Lift-off point

40.817, -82.562

Record number

1709042042-01

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CLE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• trees snapped, minor roof damage to garage
• barn partially destroyed north side of road
• willow tree branches snapped

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

A strong cold front crossed northern Ohio during the evening of September 4th. A line of showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of this front and moved across the region. A long track tornado caused damage in the Mansfield area. There were also reports of severe weather elsewhere across northern Ohio.

An EF0 tornado touched down in rural Crawford County about three quarters of a mile west of North Robinson. The initial touchdown was in a cornfield west of Olentangy Road about half way between Lower Leesville Road and Crestline Road. The tornado then continued east and moved across the northern half of North Robinson causing extensive damage. The tornado briefly reached EF2 intensity as it moved through the town. Several garages were destroyed and one home was heavily damaged after losing a large section of roof. Other homes along the path sustained lesser amounts of damage, mainly in the form of lost siding or shingles. One home did have a brick chimney toppled. Tree damage in the town was extensive. The tornado continued east over open farmland and eventually crossed the Sandusky River. The tornado then intensified to EF2 as it crossed State Route 598 north of Leesville. A home along State Route 598 was blown of it's foundation and destroyed. A second home nearby lost large sections of roofing. The tornado then continued east northeast snapping dozens of hardwood trees and leveling three farm buildings near where the Lincoln Highway and Krichbaum Road intersect. The tornado then followed a track nearly parallel and just north of Krichbaum Road for a couple of miles. Several more farm buildings were damaged or destroyed and a home lost a portion of its roof before the tornado crossed into Richland County north of the intersection of Krichbaum Road and Crawford Richland Line Road. The tornado was on the ground for just over 8 miles in Crawford County and had a damage path of up to 400 yards in width. Hundreds of trees and many power poles were downed along the damage path.

An EF2 tornado crossed into Richland County from Crawford County just to the south of Hook Road in rural Springfield Township. A home on Hook Road just west of Thrush Road sustained heavy damage. Half of the roof of the home was torn off and a bedroom on the southwest side of the house was destroyed. The attached garage on the northeast side of the house was also leveled. Two people inside the southwest corner bedroom were thrown approximately 50 feet and ended up outside in the yard. Both sustained minor injuries. An adjacent detached garage was also leveled. A riding lawnmower inside the adjacent garage was found 100 yards away in a field. The tornado then continued east along Hook Road for several miles causing tree and structural damage. A couple barns were damaged or destroyed and a few other buildings lost roofing or siding in this area. The tornado weakened to an EF1 as it crossed Horning Road. The tornado then continued across open land till it leveled yet another barn as it crossed State Route 314. The tornado strengthened again to EF2 intensity as it crossed Rock Road. One home on Stiving Road was destroyed when large trees landed on the roof of the home causing it to collapse. The house was also knocked off it foundation. Two adjacent homes also sustained damage and some outbuildings were destroyed. At least 5 vehicles at the three homes were destroyed or damage. The tornado continued east and weakened as it crossed State Route 39 just to the north of Cairns Road. The tornado finally lifted about a quarter mile east of Kline Road. Only minor tree damage was observed east of State Route 39. This tornado was on the ground in Richland County for around eight and half miles and had a damage path up to 200 yards in width. Hundreds of trees and many power poles were downed along the damage path.

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.

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:46 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 Cleveland radar (KCLE), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:44 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

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.