Thunderstorm Wind in Trumbull County, Ohio

A swath of severe straight-line convective wind gusts affected Brookfield Township. Damage was observed along Everett East Road from west of County Route 167 to Greensleaves Circle East. Along Everett East Road, winds lifted a trampoline from a

backyard, deposited it in the front yard of a nearby residence, and blew down a fence. In the Trumbull County Metroparks, on the north side of Everett East Road, approximately 30 to 40 trees were downed, all oriented toward the southeast. Several healthy trees were snapped at their bases, supporting higher-end wind estimates. A large tree was downed on the north side of Everett East Road, clipped a home, and damaged the roof. Additionally, several large tree limbs fell onto two homes and caused minor structural damage. Other trees were downed on the south side of Everett East Road.

All observed tree damage and debris were consistently oriented toward the southeast, indicating straight-line wind damage from a microburst since the corridor of damage appeared to have a maximum width of 250 yards. Maximum wind gusts were estimated to have been 90-mph.

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.