EF0 tornado, Convoy, Ohio, February 27, 2023

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

February 27, 2023

Touchdown

3:00 PM EST (20:00 UTC)

Lifted

3:02 PM EST (20:02 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.6 miles (0.9 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Van Wert County

Touchdown point

40.917, -84.716

Lift-off point

40.919, -84.705

Record number

2302271400-01

A surface low moving through the Midwest resulted in heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms in the morning along the warm front, followed by afternoon thunderstorms along a cold front. Thunderstorm wind damage was common, with estimated wind gusts of 55-65 mph.

A weak circulation touched down on the north side of Convoy Road|at a residence where two tree limbs fell in a convergent pattern and|debris from a swing set was thrown down the center point of the|path. The outer edge of the circulation also picked up an small,|unanchored chicken coop over a shed, clipping the roof corner and|dropping on the east side . The tornado pushed in the SW side of a|large metal shed and pushing out metal roofing. The tornado|continued across Sycamore St, crossing SR 49 and began weakening|as it move across Hall Dr, producing sporadic tree and shingle|damage. The tornado lifted before reaching Franklin St.

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

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

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:28 UTC and running to 21:06 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 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.

Van Wert County (VNW), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:00 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.