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EF2 tornado in Wood County, Ohio

Tornado November 17, 2013 · Wood County, Ohio

EF2
Rating
11.3 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
$2.6M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Wood County → Lucas County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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 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

An EF0 tornado touched down near Lime City Road just to the north of U.S. Route 20 in Perrysburg. The tornado continued east northeast reaching EF2 intensity as it neared the intersection of State Route 795 and Oregon Road. Two warehouse buildings had walls blown down and lost large sections of roofing. A gas station at the intersection of State Route 795 and Oregon Road was heavily damaged. Several vehicles at the gas station were damaged. Other businesses in the immediate vicinity also sustained roof damage. After causing extensive damage to a couple homes in a residential neighborhood just north of State Route 795, the tornado weakened to EF0 intensity. It then remained on the ground as either an EF0 or EF1 tornado for another four and half miles before moving into Lucas County near Northwood. It damaged several more homes and some apartment buildings before entering Lucas County. Most of this damage was from lost roofing and siding. Dozens of trees were downed along the damage path which was just over seven miles long and up to a 100 yards in width in Wood County. Many vehicles including a couple of recreational vehicles were damaged by the strong winds or flying debris.

The wider storm

A strong cold front moved across northern Ohio during the evening hours of November 17th. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed in advance of this front causing significant damage in some areas. At least three tornadoes touched down in Wood County. The strongest of the three, an EF2, crossed into Lucas County. A fourth tornado occurred in Ottawa County. All of the tornadoes downed trees and damaged homes and buildings. Strong non thunderstorm winds also occurred behind the cold front through the evening hours.

Began near Lime City (41.5390, -83.5680).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 486098. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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