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EF1 tornado in Lucas County, Ohio

Tornado June 5, 2010 · Lucas County, Ohio

EF1
Rating
3.4 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$75K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An EF1 tornado touched downed northwest of Whitehouse in far western Lucas County. The initial touchdown occurred just east of the intersection of County Road 109 and State Route 64. The tornado then continued northeast on the ground for nearly three and a half miles before lifting near the intersection of Reed and Spencer Roads. Dozens of trees were downed along the damage path which was no more than 100 yards in width. A few homes and buildings sustained minor damage, mainly from lost roofing or siding.

The wider storm

A stationary frontal system stretched across the lower Great Lakes on the morning of Saturday, June 5th. This resulted in a very warm and humid airmass over northern Ohio. Outflow boundaries from earlier storms interacted with the stationary front to initiate thunderstorm development during the afternoon hours across inland northern Ohio. One of the stronger thunderstorms produced tornadoes in Richland and Holmes Counties. There were also a few reports of straight line thunderstorm wind damage. A rapidly deepening area of low pressure moved quickly east across southern lower Michigan during the evening hours. This low eventually moved across Lake Erie during the early morning hours of the 6th. Showers and thunderstorms developed across northern Indiana during the evening hours. These storms intensified and moved east along the stationary front and into Northwest Ohio. A devastating EF4 tornado developed over Wood County a little before midnight. This tornado moved into Ottawa County before dissipating. Seven people were killed and dozens of homes destroyed by the tornado. A weaker tornado also moved across portions of Lucas County. A third round of storms developed during the early morning hours of the 6th ahead of a cold front trailing the low. These storms moved across northern Ohio and produced pockets of damage. An EF1 tornado occurred in Ashtabula County around daybreak. A total of five tornadoes occurred in northern Ohio on June 5th and 6th. These tornadoes killed seven people, injured dozens and destroyed or damaged over a 100 homes. A school and a public administration building were also leveled. Damage estimates easily topped $100 million.

Began near Whitehouse (41.5300, -83.8700).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

4 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 232877. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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