Thunderstorm Wind in Cuyahoga County, Ohio

A thunderstorm downburst produced wind gusts of at least 85 mph and caused extensive damage across the southern end of Cuyahoga County. The damage path began along the county line west of Strongsville and continued east across Strongsville, North Royalton, Broadview Heights, Brecksville and Chagrin Falls. The damage was most concentrated south of State Route 82. Hundreds if not thousands of trees were downed or snapped. Many of the trees landed on homes or parked vehicles. Many other homes lost roofing or siding. Many utility poles were also snapped and widespread power outages occurred. At the peak of the storm over 35,000 customers were without power in Cuyahoga County. The outages were most widespread in Strongsville with over 6,000 impacted. Many school districts had to close on November 6th because of lack of power and blocked roads. It took around three days for power to be fully restored.

A cold front moved across the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes on the afternoon of Sunday, November 5th, 2017. Unseasonably warm and humid air was in place across the region ahead of the front. The cold front gradually progressed across the Ohio Valley and thunderstorms initiated and swept east ahead of the front. The storms formed in a very strong wind field and allowed the storms to move very rapidly east at speeds of 60 to 80 mph. A large macroburst formed and swept east just south of Cleveland and produced winds in excess of 100 mph. The most concentrated damage stretched from southern Lorain County across Cuyahoga County and into northern Summit, northern Portage and southern Geauga Counties. A 105 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured at Aurora in Portage County. In addition to the damaging winds, at least 13 tornados were reported. Three of the tornadoes reached EF2 intensity with eight EF1 tornadoes and two EF0 tornadoes. Tens of thousands of trees were downed by these storms and widespread power outages occurred. In the Cleveland area alone, over 100,000 electric customers lost power. It took several days for power to be completely restored. Dozens of homes, buildings and barns were damaged or destroyed by the tornadoes.