Thunderstorm Wind in Stark County, Ohio

Numerous trees downed in Massillon. One car, one garage, and two porches were damaged in the process.

A surface low moved east-northeastward from southern Lake Michigan to Lake Ontario during the morning through early afternoon of April 1st. Simultaneously, the low's trailing cold front moved from the southwestern Great Lakes and Middle MS Valley toward central NY and the Upper OH Valley. Scattered multicell showers and thunderstorms persisted generally northeastward and eastward ahead of, along, and just behind the surface cold front during the wee hours of the 1st and again during the late morning through early afternoon of the 1st. These showers and storms encountered moderate to strong effective bulk shear, weak DCAPE, and weak MUCAPE that increased somewhat and transitioned from elevated to surface-based by late morning as the boundary layer destabilized via daytime heating. Despite the marginally-favorable thermodynamic environment, showers and storms generated sporadic damaging convective gusts and a tornado during the wee hours of the 1st. Additional straight-line convective wind damage occurred during the late morning through early afternoon of the 1st.