Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2020

EF0 tornado, Troy to Fletcher, Ohio, January 11, 2020

From Troy to Fletcher, this EF0 tornado ran 3.1 miles across Miami County on January 11, 2020, touching down at 10:11 PM EST and reaching 350 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
January 11, 2020
Touchdown
10:11 PM EST (03:11 UTC)
Lifted
10:13 PM EST (03:13 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
3.1 miles (5.0 km)
Path width
350 yards (320 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000
County
Miami County
Touchdown point
40.031, -84.227
Lift-off point
40.054, -84.178
Record number
2001112111-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of showers and embedded thunderstorms moved quickly east across the Miami Valley during the evening hours. A couple of these storms produced brief, weak tornadoes.

The tornado touched down initially in the southwest portions of the city of Troy and moved northeast through the center of the city. It then crossed the Great Miami River before it weakened and lifted in the far northeast portions of the city.||Much of the damage was confined to trees and roofs, both residential and commercial, as the tornado moved through the city. To the west of the Great Miami River, damage was more intermittent and weak in comparison to areas east of the Great Miami River, where more concentrated and significant tree and roof damage was noted. In particular, areas near Troy High School and along and east of North Market Street saw the most concentrated and higher end structural damage to roofing material. This included the far eastern portions of the downtown area which saw several businesses lose all or portions of their roofs.||Damage was tornadic in nature, especially on the east side of the Great Miami River, where convergent tree damage was easily noted before the tornado rapidly weakened as it left the city. Damage along the path was consistent with wind speeds ranging from 65 to 80 mph, again with the highest wind speeds estimated on the east side of the Great Miami River.

The tornado first touched down on the north side of East Peterson Road, about 4 miles southwest of Fletcher. It then crossed North Union Shelby Road, moved across the Big Woods Reserve, and then moved across the far southeast portions of the town of Fletcher. The tornado lifted about 2 miles northeast of Fletcher in an open field after it removed a portion of a barn roof on Snyder Road.||Damage consisted mainly of broken and snapped off trees and roof damage to barns and outbuildings. Snapped electrical poles were assessed on the east side of Fletcher. Residential structures were impacted either with shingle and soffit removal, or with trees having fallen on them.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:00 UTC07:06 UTCHigh Wind WarningILN
03:12 UTC03:25 UTCTornado WarningILN

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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 air that afternoon

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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

3.2 hours before the tornado, 76 km from the path. January 12, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2020-01-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -26545, lifted condensation level 602 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2020-01-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 161 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-26545 J/kg
Surface CAPE
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
161 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

8.8 hours after it, 76 km from the path. January 12, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2020-01-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -106880, lifted condensation level 679 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2020-01-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-106880 J/kg
Surface CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
679 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
178 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
1.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:12 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:38 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMG3 Ne CamdenPreble, OHBARN DAMAGED.
03:05 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMG5 W BeavercreekMontgomery, OHLARGE SPRUCE TREE DOWNED
03:11 UTCTORNADO 0TroyMiami, OHNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS A BRIEF EF0 TORNADO THROUGH THE CITY OF TROY WITH DAMAGE MAINLY TO TREES AND ROOFS.
03:12 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMGTroyMiami, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN THE TROY AREA AND SOME ROOF DAMAGE TO A BUSINESS IN TROY. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
03:15 UTCTORNADO 05 Se PiquaMiami, OHNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS A BRIEF EF0 TORNADO DAMAGED TREES AND BARN ROOFS NEAR FLETCHER.
03:18 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 83Kffo Wright-Patt AfbGreene, OH
03:43 UTCTSTM WND GST 56JamestownGreene, OH
05:15 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 49Ki19 Xenia AptGreene, OH

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 11, 2020

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 1112:18 AM CSTEF1Panola, TX0.5150$30,000
January 1112:30 AM CSTEF0Harrison, TX3.0100$15,000
January 1112:39 AM CSTEF1Shelby, TX6.14001$500,000
January 1112:52 AM CSTEF1Bollinger, MO0.245$30,000
January 1112:58 AM CSTEF1Lonoke, AR0.4130$40,000
January 111:24 AM CSTEF2Bossier Parish, LA31.83003$1.3 million
January 111:46 AM CSTEF2Cape Girardeau, MO9.1300$750,000
January 112:02 AM CSTEF1Union, IL0.950$80,000
January 112:19 AM CSTEF1Union Parish, LA3.0250$60,000
January 112:45 AM CSTEF1Ashley, AR4.5650$600,000
January 112:54 AM CSTEF1Ashley, AR9.1800$800,000
January 112:55 AM CSTEF1Ashley, AR10.3800$400,000
January 113:07 AM CSTEF2Ashley, AR20.51,000$3.0 million
January 113:24 AM CSTEF0Drew, AR0.8150$100,000
January 113:33 AM CSTEF2Chicot, AR to MS17.78501$1.1 million
January 113:36 AM CSTEF1Chicot, AR0.215$110,000
January 113:48 AM CSTEF2Bolivar, MS23.41,8004$3.0 million
January 114:02 AM CSTEF1Bolivar, MS4.2880$350,000
January 114:07 AM CSTEF1Bolivar, MS2.5270$50,000
January 114:18 AM CSTEF2Sunflower, MS5.51,700$700,000
January 114:19 AM CSTEF2Sunflower, MS5.4850$80,000
January 114:26 AM CSTEF0Tallahatchie, MS2.2100$50,000
January 114:38 AM CSTEF1Obion, TN1.9150$75,000
January 114:42 AM CSTEF1Tate, MS11.3200$610,000
January 114:45 AM CSTEF1Quitman, MS5.71501$350,000
January 114:53 AM CSTEF2DeSoto, MS8.2300$2.6 million
January 115:04 AM CSTEF0Panola, MS7.3150$110,000
January 115:17 AM CSTEF1Graves, KY2.0230$2.0 million
January 115:21 AM CSTEF0Marshall, MS5.8701$25,000
January 115:36 AM CSTEF0Fayette, TN2.090$30,000
January 115:42 AM CSTEF1Marshall, KY2.325$30,000
January 115:58 AM CSTEF0Weakley, TN0.175$15,000
January 116:11 AM CSTEF2Pointe Coupee Parish, LA1.91254$250,000
January 116:45 AM CSTEF1Prentiss, MS7.2100$200,000
January 116:50 AM CSTEF1Trigg, KY4.575$80,000
January 116:56 AM CSTEF1Prentiss, MS8.2150$75,000
January 117:00 AM CSTEF0Trigg, KY4.250$50,000
January 117:05 AM CSTEF1Caldwell, KY10.0250$150,000
January 117:08 AM CSTEF1Tishomingo, MS5.7120$90,000
January 117:12 AM CSTEF1Caldwell, KY7.5175$130,000
January 117:17 AM CSTEF0Tishomingo, MS0.780$25,000
January 117:19 AM CSTEF1Christian, KY3.0200$80,000
January 117:34 AM CSTEF1Christian, KY10.9100$250,000
January 117:40 AM CSTEF1Christian, KY2.650$15,000
January 119:33 AM CSTEF0Scott, MS3.0250$30,000
January 1110:33 AM CSTUnratedHancock, MS2.230
January 1111:11 AM CSTEF2Pickens, AL6.31,05637
January 111:03 PM CSTEF0Cullman, AL0.280
January 111:13 PM CSTEF1Marshall, AL1.860
January 111:19 PM CSTEF2Marshall, AL0.2150
January 114:52 PM ESTEF0Paulding, GA3.9400$100,000
January 115:24 PM ESTEF0Fannin, GA3.0450$250,000
January 114:33 PM CSTEF1Barbour, AL5.8275
January 115:48 PM ESTEF1Upson, GA0.3100$200,000
January 115:55 PM ESTEF0Claiborne, TN3.330
January 118:04 PM ESTEF0Anderson, SC0.430$1,000
January 118:06 PM ESTEF0Anderson, SC0.350
January 118:40 PM ESTEF0Anderson, SC0.7160$1,000
January 118:40 PM ESTEF0Greenwood, SC2.450$1,000
January 118:45 PM ESTEF0Greenwood, SC0.530

All 63 of them

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.