EF1 tornado, Morrow to Middleboro, Ohio, May 7, 2024

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

May 7, 2024

Touchdown

10:15 PM EDT (02:15 UTC)

Lifted

10:20 PM EDT (02:20 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Warren County

Touchdown point

39.355, -84.129

Lift-off point

39.380, -84.089

Record number

2405072015-01

63 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Large water tank in a field
• Tree damage around building

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

Showers and thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon and evening hours ahead of a low pressure system moving through the Ohio Valley.

This tornado produced damage along and east of US Route 42, south of Lebanon, in the Hillcrest area. A few trees were damaged along the highway and a residence east of the highway had 10 to 15 snapped and uprooted trees. Minor tree damage was observed east of the residence before the tornado ended.

The tornado first formed in South Lebanon with primarily minor tree damage observed for several city blocks on the northeast side of town. Broken limbs were found along Pike Street, Claude Street, and Sunset Drive. Minor damage to an outbuilding was found on the south side of Claude Street. ||The next evidence of the tornado was found in a field to the west of Shawhan Road, where striations were evident in the tall grass of the field. The tornado moved east-northeast across Shawhan Road, causing extensive tree damage on the east side of the road. ||A few residences along Shawhan Road sustained minor roof damage, but one detached garage had total roof removal and partial wall collapse. Winds here were estimated to be 90 mph, or low end EF-1. The tornado continued east-northeast, causing additional tree and structural damage to homes along Browning Lane. As the tornado moved back across Shawhan Road, additional tree and minor structural damage to residences was noted between Shawhan and Stubbs Mill Road. The tornado appeared to end near Stubbs Mill Road.

The tornado began near a residence along State Route 123, about a half mile east of State Route 48. Damage mainly consisted of a few downed trees, power poles and minor roof damage. A water tank from farm equipment was tossed into a field behind the residence. Sporadic tree damage continued to the east-northeast across Wilmington Road before the tornado ended. Based on the damage, maximum winds were estimated to be 65 mph, or low end EF-0.

The tornado began in the Little Miami River Valley, within the village of Morrow where tree damage and minor structure damage was observed. Extensive tree damage occurred along the northern hillside rising up out of the valley. More sporadic tree damage was noted along the hillside rising up from the southern side of the river. Several homes along Mason Morrow Millgrove Road received structural damage. One home had a total removal of its second story while an adjacent home had partial removal of its roof. Winds at this location were estimated to be at 95 mph, or EF-1.||The tornado continued northeast along the Little Miami River, with more damage found near the intersection of Mason Morrow Millgrove Road and Woodward-Claypool Road. Widespread tree damage occurred on a large stretch of the Little Miami Bike Path. The tornado then appeared to weaken as it moved northeast, causing more minor tree damage and some minor structural damage to a residence before ending.

The tornado developed in a wooded lot behind a residence along U.S. Route 22-3, where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. The residence suffered some minor roof removal and a large adjacent pole barn was completely destroyed. Winds here were estimated to be 80 mph, or EF-0. The tornado continued east along U.S. Route 22-3 for about another half mile, causing additional sporadic tree damage before ending. Debris from the destroyed pole barn was lofted and deposited downstream as far to the east-northeast as State Route 350.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS ILN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:12 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:01 UTC and running to 04:06 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:11 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.

Lebanon (I68), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:15 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 2024 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

52 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.