EF1 tornado, Elmore to Lindsey, Ohio, August 24, 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 24, 2023

Touchdown

11:08 PM EDT (03:08 UTC)

Lifted

11:13 PM EDT (03:13 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35,000

Counties

Sandusky and Ottawa counties

Touchdown point

41.502, -83.299

Lift-off point

41.455, -83.240

Record number

2308242108-01

At the surface, a low drifted east-southeastward across southern MN during the early afternoon of August 23rd through the predawn hours of August 24th. Simultaneously, a nearly-stationary front extended generally eastward from the low to central Lower MI and then south-southeastward through southeastern Lower MI to western OH. This front marked the eastern edge of an unusually-hot and very humid air mass concentrated over and near the central Great Plains and Lower OH Valley. ||Aloft, a westerly low-level jet (LLJ) at and near 850 mb underwent very moist isentropic ascent aloft along the upper-reaches of the front. The LLJ triggered thunderstorm systems known as mesoscale convective systems (MCS's) over and near Lake Erie. These MCS's occurred amidst steepening mid-level lapse rates near 7C-8C/km, a tight westerly gradient in MUCAPE with weak to strong MUCAPE over Lake Erie and northern OH, and moderate to strong effective bulk shear. Simultaneously, the MCS's propagated generally westward (i.e. into the LLJ) as individual thunderstorm cells moved generally southeastward or southward. The MCS's evolved from elevated to surface-based as they propagated into a warmer and more humid low-level air mass over northern OH and the effective inflow layer transitioned from elevated over Lake Erie to surface-based farther south. These MCS's produced severe hail up to golf ball-size and straight-line convective wind damage.||During the predawn hours of the 24th through wee hours of the 25th, the surface low drifted east-southeastward from southern MN to near the border of southeastern Lower MI and northwestern OH. Simultaneously, the warm front preceding the low shifted northward and eastward as a warm front, and reached southern ON and Lake Ontario. The cold front trailing the low moved south-southeastward from the northern Great Plains to northern IN and IL, and southern IA and NE.||As the warm front advanced northeastward, convergence and moist ascent along the surface front triggered a cluster of thunderstorms amidst moderate MUCAPE, relatively-steep mid-level lapse rates near 7C/km, and moderate effective bulk shear. The cluster of storms persisted south-southeastward across Lake Erie and northern OH, and generated isolated straight-line convective wind damage in Cuyahoga County. During the late evening of the 24th through wee hours of the 25th, another MCS associated with the aforementioned cold front persisted generally eastward and southeastward across Lake Erie and northern OH. This MCS produced twelve mesovortex-related tornadoes and straight-line convective wind damage in northern OH as the MCS encountered moderate to strong effective bulk shear and MUCAPE, respectively, and steep mid-level lapse rates near 7C-8C/km. Mixed layer LCL's near 1000 meters AGL and surface-based ESRH near 200 meters squared per second squared contributed to a favorable environment for tornadoes. ||Behind the MCS, a smaller cluster of multicell thunderstorms persisted southeastward across portions of northern OH during the predawn hours of the 25th. These storms generated localized straight-line convective wind damage in Morrow County. The storms encountered moderate to strong effective bulk shear, strong MUCAPE, and steep mid-level lapse rates near 7C/km, and apparently developed along the trailing outflow boundary of the preceding MCS.

The tornado began near the intersection of South Nissen and Deno Roads, about 1.5 miles north of Elmore, where several tree limbs were snapped. As this tornado moved southeastward, it damaged a nursery greenhouse before crossing the Portage River, where it downed several trees and scattered broken tree limbs onto several homes. The tornado tracked farther southeastward, uprooted three large trees onto a home, and damaged the roof of this home before entering Sandusky County. Estimated peak tornadic winds were 100 mph.

After entering Sandusky County from Ottawa County, this tornado continued to move generally southeastward and impacted a residential property along Sandusky County Route 92, between Elmore and Lindsey. Siding was ripped-off the home, several trees were downed, and power lines were snapped at the property before the tornado dissipated thereafter. This tornado had estimated peak winds of 100 mph.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS CLE issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:07 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:25 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:49 UTC and running to 06:07 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 00:59 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.

Toledo (TDZ), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:08 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

21 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.