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EF2 tornado in Adams County, Ohio

Tornado March 2, 2012 · Adams County, Ohio

EF2

Rating

11.1 mi

Path length

330 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

$25K

Crop damage

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 330 yards (0.19 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The tornado touched down just east of Highway 41, about 2 miles northeast of West Union. The tornado then traveled east northeast for just over 11 miles, destroying at least 5 mobile homes. Two homes were also damaged. One of these homes was built of brick. A 99 year old woman was in her mobile home in Tiffin Township when the tornado struck. She was injured from this tornado and passed away several days later. Two others were also injured from this tornado. A dozen cattle were killed and major power transmission poles were knocked over. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Based on the damage surveyed, the maximum estimated wind speed of this tornado was 125 miles per hour.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon in a high wind shear environment ahead of a strengthening low pressure system. Many of these storms became severe, with large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds, and tornadoes all being the main threats.

Began near West Union (38.8110, -83.5182).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Clermont County 3 dead EF1 Adams County EF0 Scioto County EF0 Scioto County EF0 Pike County EF0 Adams County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 370174. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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