EF2 tornado, Ft Recovery to Sharpsburg, Ohio, June 18, 2021

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

June 18, 2021

Touchdown

4:12 PM EDT (20:12 UTC)

Lifted

4:25 PM EDT (20:25 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

5.6 miles (9.0 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

Crop damage

$50,000

County

Mercer County

Touchdown point

40.433, -84.792

Lift-off point

40.382, -84.709

Record number

2106181412-01

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS IWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Tornado appears start one half north of 500n and one half mile west of 350e in grove of trees
• Estimated 250yds wide here. this house looks to be on south sife of circulation.
• Multiple farm buildings destroyed. large debris field here extending downstream.
• Multiple farm buildings destroyed. several trees snapped. house relatively unscathed. 300yds wide here

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

Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and evening hours as a low pressure system moved through a warm and humid airmass that was in place across the Ohio Valley.

The first sign of tornadic damage was observed just east of the Indiana/Ohio state line. Trees were snapped along Park Road, indicative of EF0 tornado damage. The tornado then moved southeast and may have briefly lifted, before touching back down and leaving a noticeable swirl in a wheat field between St Joe Road and Wabash Road. The tornado intensified as it moved across Wabash Road, impacting the Fort Recovery Lumber Yard. Multiple roofs were completely lifted off several outbuildings. Additionally, a collapsed cinder block wall was observed at the Fort Recovery Lumber Yard. This was consistent with EF1 damage.||The tornado then continued moving southeast through wooded areas between Wabash Road and Fort Recovery-Minster Road. Hardwood tree damage was noted in the wooded areas. After crossing Fort Recovery-Minster Road, partial removal of an outbuilding roof was noted along with tree damage. More significant damage then became apparent as the tornado continued southeast impacting the Burrville Road/Hart Road area. Multiple homes along Burrville Road sustained substantial roof damage, including total removal of over half the roof of a single family home. The survey team also noted completely destroyed outbuildings, the removal of attached garages, substantial tree damage, and projectiles embedded within an exterior wall.||Several wood power poles along Burrville Road were also completely broken. Debris from Burrville Road was thrown approximately a half mile toward Wourms Road. In addition, the tornado produced damage along Wourms Road, which included more broken wood power poles. The wooded area along Wourms Road also exhibited the most significant tree damage, where numerous hardwood trees were snapped or knocked over. Damage along Burrville Road and Wourms Road was consistent with low end EF2 damage, with maximum winds of around 115 mph.||The tornado seemed to rapidly weaken as it moved southeast to Fox Road and Meiring Road. The only damage seen was minor damage to an outbuilding and partial removal of the top of a silo. No additional damage was observed to the southeast of this area.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:59 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:03 UTC and running to 23:59 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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:02 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 Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:11 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 2021 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.