EF1 tornado, Browns Chapel to Astoria, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

June 18, 2021

Touchdown

8:38 PM EDT (00:38 UTC)

Lifted

8:43 PM EDT (00:43 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

Counties

Montgomery and Butler counties

Touchdown point

39.618, -84.470

Lift-off point

39.580, -84.456

Record number

2106181838-01

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 tornado initially touched down on the west side of Puddenbag Road, south of Barlow Road and damaged several groves of trees before crossing Puddenbag Road and snapping and uprooting several more groves of trees on the east side of Puddenbag Road. The tornado crossed in front of a farmstead and snapped and uprooted a number of trees in front of the residence. It was at this location where tree damage was estimated to be caused by winds in the 90-95 mph range. The tornado continued southeast to Oxford Road where roofing material was lifted from a home on the north side of the road and a barn on the south side of the road, while also continuing to cause considerable tree damage. The tornado then continued southeast and moved into Butler County about 0.8 miles south southwest of Browns Chapel. The tornado continued to move southeast across far northern Butler County before lifting 1 mile northeast of Astoria at 19:43 EST.

The tornado initially touched down in Preble County, about 1.6 miles northwest of Browns Chapel at 19:38 EST. The tornado moved southeast, crossing into Butler County at 19:41 EST, about 0.8 miles south southwest of Browns Chapel. The tornado then continued southeast across Elk Creek Road toward No Mans Road where some tree damage was found. In this location the damage was found to be considerably more broad and of lesser intensity, suggesting the tornado was lifting as it moved south along Elk Creek Road and No Mans Road.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:33 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:03 UTC and running to 02:03 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 Cincinnati radar (KILN), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:35 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.