EF1 tornado in Guernsey County, Ohio

An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-1 tornado, with winds

peaking near 100 mph, tracked through north central Guernsey County

on the evening of April 2, 2024. The length of the tornado was

about 1.30 miles and the max width was estimated to be about 75

yards. This tornado was associated with the same circulation that

initially produced 2 tornadoes in Muskingum County. One tornado in

Muskingum County was surveyed near North Zanesville, OH (EF-1) and

the other tornado was surveyed in Highland Twp (EF-0).

Peak intensity was reached as Cool Springs Road meets Cowden

Road, where a number of trees were snapped and/or uprooted. The

tornado caused minor structure damage to a barn before crossing

over a mobile home. The mobile home had partial roof damage, where

insulation was lofted into a tree. Numerous trees were snapped

and/or uprooted near the mobile home. After passing the mobile

home, the tornado lifted along a hillside.

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms prompted a widespread flash flood problems across the Ohio River Valley on April 2nd to April 3rd. The synoptic pattern across the CONUS was a slow moving and deep elongated trough over the Great Plains phasing with a ejecting trough over the Midwest that created an area of converging moisture over eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Overall, over a span of 4 days, four to five an half inches of rain fell across the region. Not only was small tributaries impact, but the main river reached moderate flood stage.

Along with flooding, there was a brief period of severe storms that tracked along eastern Ohio on the evening of April 2nd. A number of tornadoes touched down and were surveyed. Special soundings released by PBZ and ILN depict effective instability over eastern Ohio (1200J/kg to 1700J/kg), effective low-level shear (+50kts), and low-level helicity (300m2/s2) for rotating updrafts just before storms tracked through the area.