Thunderstorm Wind in Geauga County, Ohio

Several trees downed along U.S. Route 422, about one-mile ESE of Welshfield.

At the surface, a cold front moved southward across central Lower MI and southern ON toward southern Lower MI and southwestern NY during the evening of the 13th. Ahead of the front, a line of multicell thunderstorms persisted generally eastward across northwest OH during the early evening hours and generated small to marginally-severe hail and isolated straight-line convective wind damage amidst moderate effective bulk shear and weak to moderate MUCAPE.

During the 14th, the aforementioned front shifted back northward to central Lower MI, the northern shore of Lake Erie, and near Lake Ontario, and then wavered in vicinity of those areas through the early afternoon of the 15th as multiple, weak surface lows moved generally eastward along the front. South of the front, northern OH resided in the warm and relatively-moist sector. Within this sector, a line of multicell thunderstorms persisted generally eastward across portions of northern OH during the early afternoon of the 14th. This line of storms generated isolated straight-line convective wind damage via an outflow surge in Greenwich, Huron County, OH. Then, during the early evening of the 14th, a cluster of multicell thunderstorms persisted generally east-northeastward and produced hail up to the size of quarters to ping pong balls in northeastern Crawford and northern Richland Counties, OH. All of these storms occurred in an ambient environment with moderate MUCAPE and effective bulk shear, respectively.

During the rest of the afternoon through early evening of April 15th, the aforementioned front continued to waver in vicinity of central Lower MI, the northern shore of Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario as multiple and weak surface lows continued to move generally eastward along the front. South of the front, scattered multicell and supercell thunderstorms developed and persisted generally eastward in the warm/moist sector in northern OH. The storms produced severe hail and damaging straight-line wind gusts amidst an ambient environment with primarily moderate MUCAPE and moderate to strong effective bulk shear. These storms included a prolific supercell that produced sporadic large hail in portions of Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Trumbull Counties, and likely caused millions of dollars in hail-related damage.