High Wind — Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

2017-01-11 · Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

Event narrative

An automated sensor at Geneva-on-the-Lake measured a 59 mph wind gust.

Wider weather episode

An area of strong low pressure moved northeast across the western Great lakes on January 10th. At daybreak on the 10th the low was over Iowa. The low strengthened quickly as it moved over Wisconsin and eventually crossed the eastern end of Lake Superior during the evening hours. A cold front from this low swept east across northern Ohio during the evening hours of the 10th. Southerly winds ahead of the front increased and became damaging during the late afternoon and early evening hours. Peak gusts at most locations occurred late in the evening with winds slowly diminishing after midnight on the 11th. Showers and a few thunderstorms also developed ahead of the front prompting the issuance of at least one severe thunderstorm warning. Peak wind gusts in many areas topped 60 mph. Downed trees and limbs along with scattered power outages were reported across all of northern Ohio. A peak wind gust of 68 mph was measured at the Findlay Airport in Hancock County. Other locations with measured wind gusts of 60 mph or greater included: 66 mph at Bowling Green (Wood County); 62 mph at Fairport Harbor (Lake County); 61 mph at Mansfield Lahm Airport (Richland County); 61 mph at South Bass Island (Ottawa County); 60 mph at the Marion Airport (Marion Airport) and 60 mph at the Wayne County Airport. In Ashland County, snow plows were called out to scrape tree debris off of roadways. At the peak of the storm, more 25,000 homes were without power. The outages were most concentrated near Lake Erie. It took around 24 hours for power to be fully restored.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 671216. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.