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EF2 tornado in Crawford County, Ohio

Tornado September 4, 2017 · Crawford County, Ohio

EF2

Rating

16.7 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

Injuries

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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 in rural Crawford County about three quarters of a mile west of North Robinson. The initial touchdown was in a cornfield west of Olentangy Road about half way between Lower Leesville Road and Crestline Road. The tornado then continued east and moved across the northern half of North Robinson causing extensive damage. The tornado briefly reached EF2 intensity as it moved through the town. Several garages were destroyed and one home was heavily damaged after losing a large section of roof. Other homes along the path sustained lesser amounts of damage, mainly in the form of lost siding or shingles. One home did have a brick chimney toppled. Tree damage in the town was extensive. The tornado continued east over open farmland and eventually crossed the Sandusky River. The tornado then intensified to EF2 as it crossed State Route 598 north of Leesville. A home along State Route 598 was blown of it's foundation and destroyed. A second home nearby lost large sections of roofing. The tornado then continued east northeast snapping dozens of hardwood trees and leveling three farm buildings near where the Lincoln Highway and Krichbaum Road intersect. The tornado then followed a track nearly parallel and just north of Krichbaum Road for a couple of miles. Several more farm buildings were damaged or destroyed and a home lost a portion of its roof before the tornado crossed into Richland County north of the intersection of Krichbaum Road and Crawford Richland Line Road. The tornado was on the ground for just over 8 miles in Crawford County and had a damage path of up to 400 yards in width. Hundreds of trees and many power poles were downed along the damage path.

The wider storm

A strong cold front crossed northern Ohio during the evening of September 4th. A line of showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of this front and moved across the region. A long track tornado caused damage in the Mansfield area. There were also reports of severe weather elsewhere across northern Ohio.

Began near North Robinson (40.7892, -82.8770).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 721930. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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