Topic: EF0 Tornado

[Downlinerz2]

   Last night an EF0 tornado hit about 4 miles NE of me.  There were no warnings.  A large tree crashed onto a house, trapping the people inside, but there were no injuries.
On the 6pm local news tonight they mentioned it and said that at 11pm there would be a story investigating why there were no warnings.  I did not see the beginning of the news so there may have been more then. Their vaunted Doppler radar didn't pick it up either.  The TV met said he would show something about it on radar.  Can't wait to see what happens at 11.  Probably will say little about little.
   Here at my house at 12:30AM I had and ENE wind 5-10mph.  At 12:35AM, the wind instantly turned SW and increased to 27mph.  That was the first time I got to see that happen on my VWS.  I have seen it on the graphs before but not "live".  On GRL3 I could see the gust front on SRV1.  Saved an image but way too big for posting.
   Mark

[DanS]

About 4 miles away is getting a bit close! Glad it passed you by and hope the best for those "trapped" folks.

[utahweatherbear]

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
223 PM EDT WED APR 20 2011

...TORNADO CONFIRMED IN LUCAS COUNTY OHIO...

LOCATION...4 MILES NE OF OREGON OHIO IN LUCAS COUNTY
DATE...APRIL 20TH 2011
ESTIMATED TIME...12:49 AM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF0
ESTIMATED WIND SPEED...65 TO 85 MPH
MAX PATH WIDTH...25 YARDS WIDE
PATH LENGTH...3/4 MILE

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT
TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...
A WEAK TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF OREGON OHIO AROUND
12:49 AM APRIL 20TH 2011.  THE INITIAL TOUCHDOWN OCCURRED ON EAGLES
LANDING DRIVE AND THE STORM MOVED NORTHEAST TO THE INTERSECTION OF
JAMES ROAD AND LAGUNDOVIE ROAD.  THE PATH LENGTH WAS ABOUT 3/4 OF A
MILE.  AN ESTIMATED 24 PROPERTIES RECEIVED DAMAGE WITH ONE STRUCTURE
SUSTAINING MAJOR DAMAGE.  THE WINDS WERE ESTIMATED AT 65 TO 85 MPH.
NO INJURIES WERE REPORTED.

$$

GARNET

[Downlinerz2]

   That is too close for me too.  The more I think about the more nervous I get.  I keep remembering just standing here at the computer watching the radar and that could have dropped down on me without warning.  The storm here wasn't much of anything except the gust front.  It could have been much worse.  I was getting worried earlier watching those bow-echoes rocketing across Indiana. 
     Thanks Dan and thanks utahweatherbear.  I did not see that statement of the NWS office website and that will get filed away.
     This looks like it is going to be a wild severe storm season.  I heard on TWC that there have been 5,000 severe weather reports this April so far.  Usually there are only 3,000 for the whole month!
      Mark

[mackbig]

The ef0 I saw a couple of years ago, came during what I would classify as a scattered shower.  No heavy rain, no noticable lightning or thunder, and no wind aside from the funnel.  We were not even under a tstorm watch or warning.

Andrew

[W Thomas]

How far away from the actual site did this happen?

Our WFO had 2 separate occurrences of tornadoes in the same area that caused considerable damage and some injuries. This was somewhat of an epic event in the respect that the area was close to the radar and the conditions were exactly right for this to happen. They actually got to document it very well on radar because of the location. There were warnings issued with these storms though... Something seems to have slipped through the cracks in your situation.

[SlowModem]

As Yogi Berra once said, "It can be summed up in two words - You never know!"

[groze]

The ef0 I saw a couple of years ago, came during what I would classify as a scattered shower.  No heavy rain, no noticable lightning or thunder, and no wind aside from the funnel.  We were not even under a tstorm watch or warning.

Andrew

That sounds like a cold air funnel.  Did it touch down? Do it do damage?   I thought could air funnels that touch down was rare in the U.S.

[Downlinerz2]

How far away from the actual site did this happen?
Our WFO had 2 separate occurrences of tornadoes in the same area that caused considerable damage and some injuries. This was somewhat of an epic event in the respect that the area was close to the radar and the conditions were exactly right for this to happen. They actually got to document it very well on radar because of the location. There were warnings issued with these storms though... Something seems to have slipped through the cracks in your situation.

   The closest radars to us is the Detroit radar and Cleveland radar.  The Detroit radar is about 65 miles.  Cleveland is 70 miles according to my GRL3. Cleveland is our NWS office.
   The NWS in Cleveland said that with EF0's like that they just cannot see them all.  The signatures are just too small.  The distance probably doesn't help but the TV station has a Doppler radar set up between my house and where the tornado hit and they did not see it either. They were on the air at the time covering the storms.  The Cleveland met said they have an 80 - 90% detection rate for tornadoes. 
    Heres a what are the odds?  The house that was damaged by this EF0 was the house of a 14 year old boys mother.  He was staying at the house when it was hit by the tornado.  He was particularly scared!  It turns out that last June when a tornado hit about 4 miles south of here in Wood county he was staying at his fathers house when it was hit and destroyed.  7 people were killed in that tornado that briefly was EF4.  He is really freaked about storms now.  Can't say I blame him.
   Mark

[mackbig]

Yes, it touched down.  No significant damage.  The place where it touched down was right beside a highway... just trees and fields.

I saw the funnel from my house.  I was going to Pickering, from Markham.  It was two days after a record outbreak (record for my area), that spawned 18 confirmed tornados in one day.  Normal for Ontario is 11 per year.  That was a violent day, GR3 was very busy over southern Ontario and there were tornado warnings for the entire southern part of the province.

I got to within a several hundred feet of it.  We were on a 6 lane highway and thought it would have moved north-east by the time we got closer to it. It seemed almost stationary.  took some more pix and vid and when it did not appear to be moving, we got off the highway and headed south then east to avoid it.

Here is the october summary, from EC, it was when the tornado I saw was confirmed.
http://www.ec.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=714D9AAE-1&news=57B67517-6B0E-4B13-B8F8-FE0BEC2049D9

Here are my pix, and wxforum storm report.
http://www.mackweather.com/wxpixtornado.php
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=5175.0

Andrew

That sounds like a cold air funnel.  Did it touch down? Do it do damage?   I thought could air funnels that touch down was rare in the U.S.

[groze]

mackbig,

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel_cloud

Cold-air funnel clouds (vortices) are usually short-lived and generally much weaker than the vortices produced by supercells. Although cold-air funnels rarely make ground contact, they may touch down briefly and become weak tornadoes or waterspouts.

Those type of funnels & tornadoes don't need a thunderstorm to form.  Sorry, didn't know you were in Canada.    In Delaware County, Indiana.  There was a cold air funnel that touched down and was seen by a trained weather spotter.  It keep going up & down but it was never confirmed by the national weather service, the damage done was very minor.   I think it hit a power transformer if I recall correctly.   It did travel into Randolph/Wayne/Henry County then it dissipated.  The spotter for my county saw something but couldn't tell what it was & then it was gone.   There is one spot were all three counties touch.  The national weather offices did issue warning for Delaware & Henry county.  Don't know if one was issued for Wayne county that county is warned by a different NWS  office .  This happened in 2010.

[Mark / Ohio]

Tornado went about 10 mile to my NW for the second time this year the other night.  They think now it might have been up to an F1.  I measured 44 mph and a station West of the damaged area clocked 57 mph.  A school in the area clocked 74 mph.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/article/20110421/NEWS01/104210301/Storms-cause-morning-destruction-Fairfield-County?odyssey=mod_sectionstories

This was only about 5 mile at most from where the tornado went through in February.  

Worst of it as usual split North and South of me.  

[Downlinerz2]

 Mark,
    I am glad it split around you. same thing happens here regularly from the Lake I think.  All this nasty weather is getting a little out of hand.  Hope you stay safe!
Accuweather is predicting a major outbreak this coming week and the Ohio Valley is included. 
    Mark