EF0 tornado, Moulton to Waynesfield, Ohio, May 27, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

May 27, 2019

Touchdown

10:47 PM EDT (02:47 UTC)

Lifted

10:54 PM EDT (02:54 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.4 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Auglaize County

Touchdown point

40.567, -84.109

Lift-off point

40.590, -84.041

Record number

1905272047-01

Thunderstorms developed during the evening hours along a warm front lifting slowly north across the region. Many of the thunderstorms produced tornadoes, including a few strong to violent tornadoes.

The tornado appears to have touched down very close to Kettlersville Road, just south of the intersection with County Road 33A. Extensive damage occurred here to a barn, grain silo, trees, and a 19th century residence. The north end of the barn was destroyed and the grain silo was lifted and rolled approximately 150 yards to the northeast. A swirl pattern was evident as well in vegetation along the shore of a pond near where the grain silo fragment came to rest. The back room and associated roof of the 19th century residence was pulled from the main structure, along with the plumbing fixtures and a portion of the concrete sub-floor. The structure and contents of the room and barn were scattered to the northeast along a path approximately 50 yards wide. Several pine trees with trunks approximately 8-10 inches wide were also snapped near the residence. This damage and its dispersal pattern was consistent with 100 to 110 mph winds of an EF1 tornado.||The tornado next crossed County Road 33A between Kettlersville Road and Kohler Lane, damaging power poles along County Road 33A. Two barns and another outbuilding on a property just north of the road were also destroyed. Only small segments of the barns were still standing, suggesting 100 to 110 mph (EF1) winds along this portion of the track. The debris from these structures was scattered over a large area of the adjoining field to the north, northeast and east near the intersection of County Road 33A and Woodland Drive. The tornado likely didn't track directly over this entire area, but instead debris was probably lofted and thrown free of the circulation in many directions, before falling back to the ground nearby.||An absence of damage for approximately 150 yards to the east of the field suggests the tornado briefly lifted, then descended again to strike two more barns and the north side of a house. Both barns lost their roofs and at least half of their exterior walls. Some roof damage also occurred to the house. Debris from these structures was lofted and then dropped to the east in an adjacent field and on both sides of US Route 33.||As the tornado continued east-northeast, it left visible striations in field vegetation and destroyed an outbuilding just west of the County Road 33A overpass across US Route 33. A large portion of the outbuilding was lifted and carried approximately 150 yards to the area just west of the overpass and dropped on the road, where a semi truck crashed into it. The semi driver was injured in the crash. The degree and pattern of damage both here and at the adjacent property to the west are indicative of 100 to 110 mph winds of an EF1 tornado.||No further damage was noted on the north side of US Route 33 or east of the overpass, so dissipation of the tornado likely occurred at this point.

The tornado appears to have first touched down in a small wooded area along Town Line Road, south of the intersection with Middle Pike. Hardwood trees, with trunk diameters between 6 to 18 inches, were uprooted and snapped here. Debris was lofted and carried northeast up to approximately 100 yards. This damage was likely the result of 75 to 85 mph winds associated with an EF0 tornado.||The next damage point was along Middle Pike, east of the intersection with Town Line Road. The wooden supports of approximately 75 yards of guardrail were bent over or snapped toward the north and some roofing was removed from a small outbuilding on the north side of the road. One barn was destroyed and another was damaged farther northeast near the intersection of Blank Pike and Stiles Road, where debris was lofted and dropped in a field 100 to 150 yards to the northeast. EF0 tornado winds likely ranged from 75 to 85 mph in both of these locations.||The tornado then appeared to lift briefly before touching down again on Boundry Road, north of Blank Pike. Structural damage to a barn and a small shed occurred here. Trees with trunk diameters of approximately 6 to 12 inches were also snapped, lofted and carried 50 to 100 yards. The EF0 tornado winds here were estimated to be between 65 and 75 mph.

The tornado was captured on video from Waynesfield Goshen High School. The tornado snapped a few small trees with trunk diameters approximately 3 inches or less, located around the front parking lot of the high school near North Westminster Street. The tornado then crossed over the main building in the video and emerged behind the school. The tornado was last seen on the video moving east-southeast away from the school, and no further damage was observed nearby. Since small trees sustained the only visible damage, this tornado was classified as a low-end EF0 with winds of approximately 65 mph.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:27 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:21 UTC and running to 04:34 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:18 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 Cincinnati radar (KILN), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:46 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 2019 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 63 of them

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.