EF3 Tornado — Meigs, Ohio

2010-09-16 · near Joppa, Meigs, Ohio

Event narrative

A new rotating supercell formed south of thunderstorm complex that caused the tornado and strong downburst in western Athens County. A new tornado formed. Significant structural damage to farm buildings and a few homes occurred along Eden Ridge Road. This road is also County Route 50. The tornado path then went across State Route 124 between community of Reedsville and Eden along the Ohio River. A majority of the mobile homes affected were in this vicinity. In addition, a well built single family home and its detached commercial grade garage were completely destroyed. The foundations of both structures were wiped clean. The EF3 damage included this area along State Route 124. Maximum wind gusts of 150 mph were estimated. The county reported 22 structures destroyed or having major damage, including mostly mobile and single family homes. However, one car repair shop was also included. Another 20 homes were affected or had minor damage. Around a dozen outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. One male received rib and leg fractures when his truck was flipped over while he was in it. A woman was injured when she was pinned in rubble from her mobile home. In the dark, her barking dog helped first responders find her faster. A total of 6 people were injured, 2 seriously.

This tornado crossed the Ohio River and killed a man immediately on the other side of the river in southern Wood County of West Virginia.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.1571, -81.7897)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 255620. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.