Thunderstorm Wind — Marion, Ohio

2012-06-29 · near Meeker, Marion, Ohio

Event narrative

An intense line of thunderstorms or Derecho moved across Marion County during the afternoon of June 29th causing extensive damage. Winds were estimated to be as much as 80 mph and a 62 mph gust was measured by an automated sensor on the north end of the county. Over 75 percent of residents lost power during this event. Power was not completely restored till July 5th. Hundreds, if not thousands of trees were downed across the county along with many utility poles forcing the closure of dozens of roads and streets. Damage to homes and buildings was also extensive. Hundreds of homes and buildings lost roofing or siding with many other homes damaged by fallen trees. At least one semi truck was overturned by the strong winds. Clean up costs were extensive. The clean up was hampered by an ongoing heat wave with afternoon temperatures in the upper 90s. Significant crop losses are also expected. Damage from this storm was comparable to the remnants of Hurricane Ike in September 2008.

Wider weather episode

A Derecho developed over northern Indiana during the early afternoon hours of June 29th. This line of storms intensified as it moved across Central Ohio later in the afternoon. Extensive damage was reported in Hancock, Wyandot, Marion, Morrow and Knox Counties. Lesser amounts of damage were reported just to the north of these counties. The damage from this Derecho is comparable to the damage from the remnants of Hurricane Ike in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for as long as a week. Power was not fully restored in Hancock County till July 6th. Thousands of trees and hundreds of utility poles were downed by this line of storms. Hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged by winds estimated to be more than 80 mph. A 84 mph wind gust was measured in Findlay. Automated sensors at area airports failed to record peak gusts because of power outages. Dozens of roads and street had to be closed because of fallen trees and power lines. Significant crop losses are also expected. Clean up costs were significant from this storm. Clean up efforts were hampered by an ongoing heat wave with afternoon temperatures as warm as 100 degrees.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6722, -83.3705)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 394705. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.