EF1 tornado in Perry County, Ohio

The western Perry County tornado lifted, but its associated rotating thunderstorm continued moving over the central portion of the county. A new tornado touchdown occurred near Melon Hill Road about 3 miles east of New Lexington. This tornado reached its peak intensity as it crossed near the curved portion of Route 92, about 3 miles south of Crooksville. The EF1 damage was about 300 yards wide and roughly a mile long, including roofs and portions of roofs blown off several structures. Peak winds in this vicinity were estimated at 100 to 110 mph. This tornado continued for a slight distance into northwestern Morgan County. The tornado was weakening as it crossed the county line.

The total damage from the 2 tornadoes in Perry County included 12 homes with minor damage, 16 homes with major damage, and 8 homes destroyed.

A cold front, in tandem with strong mid and upper level forcing, produced a severe weather outbreak in southeast Ohio into extreme western West Virginia during the late afternoon and evening of Thursday the 16th. The setup featured a 45 knot mid level flow and a 95 knot upper level jet. Matter of fact, a larger area of showers, associated with a warm front, had moved across southeast Ohio and West Virginia during the morning and midday hours. This kept the surface based instability at a minimum. However, new cells formed further west during the mid afternoon over western Ohio. It was this new cluster of convection that would intensify due to the strong mid and upper level dynamics. Several of the new cells formed and intensified on the southern or southwestern flank of the overall larger area of showers and thunderstorms. This area of convection stretched further to the northeast into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This allowed an unimpeded low level moisture inflow into the new development. Surface dew points ahead of the cold front reached into the mid 60s.

Most of the severe thunderstorms exhibited strong rotation, resulting in the spawning of 5 tornadoes. Four of these 5 tornadoes were in Ohio. One of the 4 Ohio tornadoes crossed from Fairfield County into western Perry County. Another 1 of the 4 crossed from Perry into northwestern Morgan County. One tornado patch was solely in western Athens County. The damage continued another 10 miles in Athens County from a strong rear flank downdraft. Finally, the last of the 4 tornadoes in Ohio crossed the Ohio River from northeastern Meigs County into southern Wood County in West Virginia. From storm surveys, this was the strongest tornado. The last tornado path in this outbreak was solely in western West Virginia. Luckily, there were no fatalities in southeastern Ohio. However, there was one death on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River.