High Wind — Cuyahoga, Ohio

2009-02-11 to 2009-02-12 · Cuyahoga, Ohio

Event narrative

A strong cold front moved across Cuyahoga County during the evening of February 11th. West to southwest winds gusted to more than 60 mph behind the front. A 59 mph gust was measured at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 1:29 am. A 66 mph gust was measured at 2 am at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport. Winds finally diminished just before daybreak on the 12th. Dozens of trees and a few utility poles were downed in the county causing scattered power outages. At one point, over 100,000 customers were without power in Cleveland alone. Many buildings in the county sustained damage. Most of this was from lost shingles, but a few buildings lost gutters or sections of siding. Several cars were reported damaged from fallen trees. Several schools had to be closed on the 12th because of power outages.

Wider weather episode

A strong area of low pressure tracked northeast from the lower Mississippi Valley through the central Great Lakes on February 11th. Showers and thunderstorms developed across the region during the evening hours of the 11th. Some of the thunderstorms became severe. Additional damage was caused by strong winds behind the cold front. Thousands of trees were downed and hundreds of homes and buildings damaged by the strong winds behind the front. Most of the home damage was from lost shingles, but many homes also lost siding or gutters. Even a few broken windows were reported. A few homes also sustained significant damage from fallen trees. Tens of thousands of people lost power during this event. The power outages forced many school districts to delay or cancel classes on the 12th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 155484. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.