EF1 tornado, Kenton, Ohio, March 26, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

March 26, 2026

Touchdown

8:46 PM EDT (00:46 UTC)

Lifted

8:47 PM EDT (00:47 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hardin County

Touchdown point

40.631, -83.611

Lift-off point

40.631, -83.609

Highest wind the damage implies

90 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ILN

The office's name for it

032726-Kenton

Survey last edited

March 27, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado near the city of Kenton in Hardin County, Ohio. The peak wind estimates were near 90 mph, resulting in a lower end EF1 classification. Some damage points were caused by winds estimated to be closer to 80 mph or higher end EF0. This tornado occurred during the evening hours on Thursday, Mar 26, 2026.

There was a cluster of storms approaching northern and western Hardin County, in which an outflow boundary began causing power line damage near 8pm. As the cluster of storms continued moving east southeast through the county, wind damage occurred near Alger which was more conducive to straight line winds.

When the final storm of the larger complex of storms pushed toward Kenton, it produced a brief tornado at the Hardin County Fairgrounds just south of County Road 140, with minor roof damage first observed. Several wooden power poles were damaged and even snapped completely in half. One hardwood tree was also completely snapped on the northern side of the fairgrounds. One building experienced a major loss of metal roofing panels and another building had its concrete block siding blown out, causing a partial collapse of the roof. There was also uplift of an open-ended barn structure, in which large support poles were lifted and shifted slightly from the ground. The final damage occurred on the eastern side of the fairgrounds with additional power poles snapped and minor roof damage to additional buildings.

The National Weather Service would like to thank the Hardin County Emergency Management Agency for their assistance with this damage survey.

Written by NWS ILN in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

15 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 93 mph.

• Roof and siding damage to a home, along with large tree branches snapped.

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

A cold front moved through the Great Lakes region, producing strong thunderstorms. Some storms produced damaging wind.

The first tornadic damage was observed at the Hardin County Fairgrounds, just south of County Road 140, where minor roof damage occurred. Several wooden power poles were damaged and snapped in half. On the northern side of the fairgrounds, a hardwood tree was snapped and a building sustained a major loss of its metal roofing panels. An additional building had its concrete block siding blown out, which caused a partial roof collapse. An open-ended barn structure was lifted, causing the support poles to be lifted and shifted. The final damage associated with this tornado was on the eastern side of the fairgrounds, where additional power poles were snapped and minor roof damage was observed to fairground buildings.

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 20:58 UTC and running to 03:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

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 2026 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

4 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.