Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2020
EF0 tornado, Kilbourne to Berkshire, Ohio, September 7, 2020
From Kilbourne to Berkshire, this EF0 tornado ran 3.2 miles across Delaware County on September 7, 2020, touching down at 5:14 PM EDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- September 7, 2020
- Touchdown
- 5:14 PM EDT (21:14 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 3.2 miles (5.2 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $25,000
- County
- Delaware County
- Touchdown point
- 40.297, -82.989
- Lift-off point
- 40.270, -82.939
- Record number
- 2009071514-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Showers and thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and evening hours along a stalled frontal boundary that was stretching across central Ohio. The thunderstorms continued into the early morning hours of the 8th, producing areas of heavy rain.
The tornado is believed to have begun in a field just west of Jumper Road, with the first evidence of tornadic damage occurring along Jumper Road. Multiple trees and large limbs were knocked down and partial uplift of a roof was observed on one of the homes. Shingles and other material were thrown both downwind and upwind from the home. To the southeast of Jumper Road, additional tree damage was noted along North Old State Road. The tornado likely crossed Alum Creek, producing additional tree damage along N 3 Bs and K Road before lifting. This tornado was rated EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with maximum winds of 80 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
12 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:02 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:20 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 20:54 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 21:02 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | ILN |
| 21:24 UTC | 21:40 UTC | Tornado Warning | ILN |
| 21:25 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | ILN |
| 21:37 UTC | 21:48 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN |
| 22:39 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Flood Advisory | ILN |
| 23:05 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | ILN |
| 02:07 UTC | 09:32 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | ILN |
| 03:29 UTC | 06:08 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | ILN |
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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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), 12:00Z
9.2 hours before the tornado, 119 km from the path. September 7, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -82468 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1756 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 185 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 195 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.9 K/km
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z
2.8 hours after it, 119 km from the path. September 8, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 384 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -147 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1521 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1381 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 170 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.3 K/km
The surface observations
Delaware (DLZ), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:15 UTC | 84.2 | 64.4 | 200° 6 kt | 17 | 1011.5 | |
| 19:35 UTC | 82.4 | 64.4 | 190° 9 kt | 16 | 1011.5 | |
| 19:55 UTC | 82.4 | 64.4 | 210° 12 kt | 1011.5 | VCTS | |
| 20:15 UTC | 82.4 | 64.4 | 210° 9 kt | 16 | 1010.8 | |
| 20:35 UTC | 84.2 | 64.4 | 190° 11 kt | 21 | 1010.5 | VCTS |
| 20:55 UTC | 80.6 | 64.4 | 200° 10 kt | 17 | 1010.5 | VCTS |
| 21:15 UTC | 360° 29 kt | 1012.5 | TS | |||
| 21:35 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 330° 4 kt | 1012.9 | +TSRA | |
| 21:55 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 110° 3 kt | 1013.9 | +TSRA | |
| 22:15 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 310° 7 kt | 1014.2 | +TSRA | |
| 22:35 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 0° 0 kt | 1013.2 | +TSRA | |
| 22:55 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 170° 7 kt | 1013.2 | TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:13 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Ostrander | Union, OH | SEVERAL LARGE MAPLES SNAPPED AT THE 2 1/2 FT TRUNK LEVEL. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 20:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 E Marysville | Union, OH | SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF SPRINGDALE AND LOWE ROADS. ONE TREE FELL ONTO A HOUSE AND A BARN WAS ALSO BLOWN DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 20:54 UTC | TSTM WND GST 49 | Kmrt Marysville Apt | Union, OH | |
| 21:06 UTC | TSTM WND GST 55 | Kdlz Delaware Apt | Delaware, OH | |
| 21:07 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 W Delaware | Delaware, OH | TREE REPORTED DOWN ON POWER LINES. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 21:07 UTC | TSTM WND GST 68 | Delaware | Delaware, OH | MEASURED ON THE EMA WEATHER STATION AT THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE |
| 21:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Delaware | Delaware, OH | SEVERAL TREES AND WIRES DOWN IN AND NEAR THE CITY OF DELAWARE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 21:11 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ene Delaware | Delaware, OH | TREE DAMAGE REPORTERD ON HARRIS ROAD NEAR STATE ROUTE 521. |
| 21:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nne Powell | Delaware, OH | TREES DOWNED NEAR THE ENTRY TO SHALE HOLLOW PARK. |
| 21:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 S Ashley | Delaware, OH | SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWNED OR SNAPPED ALONG LEONARDSBURG ROAD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 21:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ene Delaware | Delaware, OH | NUMEROUS LARGE TREES AND TREE LIMBS DOWNED ALONG A PORTION OF CACKLER ROAD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 21:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 Ne Powell | Delaware, OH | SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWNED OR UPROOTED ALONG COUNTY ROAD 10. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 21:13 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Powell | Delaware, OH | TREE DOWNED ON DUBOIS ROAD. |
| 21:14 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 4 E Delaware | Delaware, OH | EF0 TORNADO CONFIRMED EAST OF DELAWARE IN DELAWARE COUNTY OHIO. |
| 21:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ene Powell | Delaware, OH | SEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWNED NEAR GLEN OAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. |
| 21:19 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Nw Sunbury | Delaware, OH | ONE LARGE TREE DOWNED AT N GALENA ROAD AND US ROUTE 36. |
| 21:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wsw Sunbury | Delaware, OH | MULTIPLE TREES DOWNED ON MILL RUN DRIVE. |
| 21:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ese Sunbury | Delaware, OH | MULTIPLE TREES DOWNED ON ORCHARD LANE. |
| 21:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ne Sunbury | Delaware, OH | TWO LARGE TREES UPROOTED AT A RESIDENCE ON NORTH COLUMBUS STREET. |
| 21:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Hartford | Licking, OH | NUMEROUS TREES DOWNED AT TWO PROPERTIES ON SINKEY ROAD. |
| 21:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 W Utica | Licking, OH | NUMEROUS TREES AND WIRES DOWN. |
| 21:52 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mount Vernon | Knox, OH | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS MOUNT VERNON. |
| 22:30 UTC | FLOOD | Delaware | Delaware, OH | HIGH WATER ON ROADS ACROSS COUNTY. |
| 22:45 UTC | FLOOD | 1 Ssw Utica | Licking, OH | UTICA POLICE DEPARTEMENT REPORTED WATER TOPPING THE BRIDGE ON OH-13 FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES. DEBRIS WAS ALSO REPORTED. THIS PROMPTED A ROAD CLOSURE. |
| 22:51 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.15 | 1 Nw Chesterville | Morrow, OH | |
| 23:00 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 2.05 | 1 Wsw Bellville | Richland, OH | MESONET STATION BLLO1 BELLVILLE. |
| 23:53 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.2 | 6 Wnw Gahanna | Franklin, OH | 1 HOURLY RAIN TOTAL FROM 655 TO 750 PM |
| 23:54 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 1.4 | Bexley | Franklin, OH | 1 HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL BETWEEN 700 AND 750 PM |
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
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.