Thunderstorm Wind — Summit, Ohio

2017-11-05 · near West Richfield, Summit, Ohio

Event narrative

Thunderstorm downburst wind gusts estimated to be as much as 100 mph caused extensive damage across northern Summit County. Thousands of trees and dozens of utility poles were reported down in Richfield, Boston, Sagamore Hills and Twinsburg Townships. The damage was most concentrated in the Twinsburg area with hundreds of homes loosing roofing or siding. Many other homes and buildings were damaged by fallen trees. Many vehicles were also damaged by flying debris or downed trees or limbs. There were numerous reports of roads and streets blocked by fallen trees or power lines. A 30,000 volt high power tension line was blown down along Liberty Road near Irena Lane in Twinsburg. The damage in the county extended as far south as Cuyahoga Falls and even Tallmadge. Widespread power outages were reported and school districts in the area had to close on November 6th because of blocked roads and the power outages. Up to 25,000 customers lost power from this storm. It took five days for power to fully restored and weeks for the storm damage to be cleaned up.

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 727429. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.