Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2021

EF1 tornado, Lake County, Ohio, October 21, 2021

This EF1 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Lake County on October 21, 2021, touching down at 4:49 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
October 21, 2021
Touchdown
4:49 PM EDT (20:49 UTC)
Lifted
4:50 PM EDT (20:50 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lake County
Touchdown point
41.608, -81.453
Lift-off point
41.609, -81.449
Record number
2110211449-01

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 19:40 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.

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 12:00Z

8.8 hours before the tornado, 175 km from the path. October 21, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2021-10-21Temperature 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 -87709, lifted condensation level 1175 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2021-10-21The 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 105 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
-87709 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1175 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 00:00Z

3.2 hours after it, 175 km from the path. October 22, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2021-10-22Temperature 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 -91246, lifted condensation level 773 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2021-10-22The 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 -217 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-91246 J/kg
Surface CAPE
54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
773 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-217 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:50 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
20:36 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se BrunswickMedina, OHDAMAGE TO ROOF AND TREES, EVIDENT SWIRLS IN GRASS/CROPS. TDS EVIDENT JUST EAST OF DAMAGE POINT. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE.
20:36 UTCTORNADO3 Se BrunswickMedina, OHNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS AN EF-1 TORNADO IN HINCKLEY TOWNSHIP. TORNADO BEGAN NEAR TURNSTONE COURT AND MOVED EAST BEFORE ENDING IN HINCKLEY RESERVATION.
20:49 UTCTORNADO1 E WickliffeLake, OHNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS AN EF-1 TORNADO IN WICKLIFFE. TORNADO BEGAN ON BRIAR COURT AND CONTINUED EAST TOWARD PINE RIDGE COUNTRY CLUB BEFORE DISSIPATING.
20:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ese WickliffeLake, OHPICTURES OF DAMAGE TO TREES AND ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE AT RUSH RD AND OH-84. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE.
21:08 UTCTORNADO2 Nne HudsonSummit, OHNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS AN EF-0 TORNADO IN HUDSON. A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF STATE ROUTE 91 AND MIDDLETON ROAD AND MOVED NORTHEAST FOR A BRIEF TIME.
21:18 UTCTSTM WND DMGChardonGeauga, OHTREE DOWN ON WIRES ACROSS THE SIDEWALK ON N HAMBDEN ST.
21:21 UTCTORNADO2 Sse AuroraPortage, OHNWS STORM SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMS AN EF-0 NEAR AURORA. THE TORNADO INITIALLY TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF A LARGE 4-STORY BUILDING NORTHWEST OF LENA DRIVE AND PAGE ROAD. THE TORNADO MOVED EAST OVER THE PARKING LOT. ROOF AC UNIT WAS
21:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nne MantuaPortage, OHTREES DOWN AT ST. RT 82 AND SHELDON RD.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of October 21, 2021

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 214:36 PM EDTEF1Medina, OH2.650
October 214:44 PM EDTEF0Medina, OH0.350
October 215:08 PM EDTEF0Summit, OH0.825
October 215:10 PM EDTEF1Stark, OH3.050
October 215:21 PM EDTEF0Portage, OH0.225
October 216:15 PM EDTEF1Trumbull, OH0.750
October 216:20 PM EDTEF0Trumbull, OH0.120
October 216:56 PM EDTEF1Beaver, PA1.640
October 217:03 PM EDTEF1Jefferson, OH0.470$150,000
October 217:06 PM EDTEF1Belmont, OH7.950$525,000
October 217:11 PM EDTEF1Beaver, PA3.2110
October 217:30 PM EDTEF2Washington, PA15.7700$7.5 million
October 217:33 PM EDTEF0Butler, PA8.7300
October 217:41 PM EDTEF0Allegheny, PA0.5100$50,000
October 217:47 PM EDTEF1Allegheny, PA4.7400$500,000
October 217:58 PM EDTEF1Washington, PA0.550
October 217:59 PM EDTEF1Washington, PA0.430
October 218:07 PM EDTEF1Washington, PA1.5200$325,000

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.