Thunderstorm Wind — Medina, Ohio

2017-11-05 · near Valley City, Medina, Ohio

Event narrative

A thunderstorm downbust with winds estimated to be as much as 85 mph caused extensive damage across the northern end of Medina County. The damage began west of Valley City along the county line and continued east across the Brunswick and Hinckley areas. The damage was most concentrated in Liverpool township where there was significant tree and power pole damage. Hundreds of trees were also downed in Brunswick and Hinckley. Many homes lost roofing or siding and a few were damaged by fallen trees. In Brunswick alone, there were 300 reports of damage with four homes sustaining structural damage and a fifth destroyed from a complete roof collapse caused by a fallen tree. There was also damage across Medina and Granger Townships but it wasn't as widespread. Many roads, including county and state routes were blocked by fallen trees and power lines. Several school districts in the county were closed on November 6th because of power outages. At the peak of the storm over 10,000 people were without power in Median County. It took a couple of days for power to be fully restored.

Wider weather episode

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.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 727427. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.