EF1 tornado, Kenton, Ohio, August 12, 2023

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

August 12, 2023

Touchdown

12:46 PM EDT (16:46 UTC)

Lifted

12:52 PM EDT (16:52 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Hardin County

Touchdown point

40.640, -83.610

Lift-off point

40.630, -83.570

Record number

2308121046-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CLE and NWS ILN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Southern half of roof blown off of farm building with debris into field to the east. Large tree branches snapped north and east of house.

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

Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed as a cold front moved through the Ohio Valley.

The tornado first touched down in the vicinity of west Espy Street and Robinson Avenue. Some minor tree limb damage was noted, with some sheet metal damage to buildings in this area, including roof damage to one structure between west Espy Street and U.S. Route 68. Damage was more significant and concentrated in a neighborhood near Detroit Street and Main Street, especially between Railroad Street and Letson Street. Numerous trees and large limbs were downed and numerous homes and garages had at least some minor roof or fascia damage. The winds were likely the strongest just north of Letson Street, where one garage was flattened and another outbuilding had its roof and second floor removed. Debris from these structures could be found at least a quarter mile downstream. Winds at this location were estimated to be about 90 mph. Additional tree damage and minor structural damage was noted on the east side of Main Street, extending from near the Hardin County Sheriff's Office through Brumm Street.||Additional tree damage was observed on the north side of the Scioto River, near and south of Lick Street. This includes one grove of trees south of the end of Stevens Street, with several tree tops snapped off. The tornado then traversed an uninhabited area but minor tree damage was noted near the intersection of Bales Road and County Road 175. In addition, small pieces of insulation were found near this intersection and in the field to the east. This is where the tornado ended.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:27 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:00 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:23 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), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:45 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 2023 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.