High Wind — Cuyahoga, Ohio

2019-02-24 to 2019-02-25 · Cuyahoga, Ohio

Event narrative

Cleveland Hopkins Airport reported a 67 mph wind gust at 12:58 pm local time. Burke Lakefront Airport reported a 61 mph wind gust at 10:23 am local time. Cuyahoga County Airport reported a 58 mph wind gust at 11:45 am local time. Cuyahoga County was the hardest hit county during this high wind event. Numerous trees, power lines, and power poles were reported down across the county with almost every city reporting wind-related incidents. Thousands were without power on the 24th into the 25th and some residences did not receive power for days. Several school districts were closed due to wind-related damage or power outages. Several buildings received wind damage during the event as trees and power lines fell onto structures. The most notable building damage was an entire apartment complex in Woodmere lost its roof, crashing onto several vehicles below. This event was the most significant non-thunderstorm wind event for the county since the post-tropical remnants of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 in structures damaged and dollars of damage.

Wider weather episode

A long duration high wind event occurred across the area on February 24th. A low pressure system tracked out of the southern Plains and rapidly deepened as it moved towards the Great Lakes Region. This low originated over the panhandle of Texas on the 23rd with central pressure of 998 mb. The low tracked northeast to near Chicago by late on the 23rd, lifting a warm front across northern Ohio. The low continued northeast towards eastern portions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, deepening to 974 mb by mid-day on the 24th. This low extended a cold front over northern Ohio, moving west to east, and brought very strong southwest to westerly winds to the region during the morning hours on the 24th. Strong winds behind the cold front began in Northwest Ohio around 8 AM and reached Northeast Ohio just before Noon. Wind gusts of 50-60 mph were common through the afternoon and into the evening with some locations experiencing gusts of over 60 mph. Some of the peak wind reports included 67 mph at Cleveland Hopkins and Lorain County Airports, 64 mph at Toledo Express Airport, 63 mph at Findlay Airport, 61 mph at Akron-Canton, Burke Lakefront, Wayne County, and Youngstown-Warren Airports, 60 mph at Mansfield Lahm Airport, 59 mph at Erie-Ottawa and Toledo Executive Airports, and 58 mph at Cuyahoga County Airport.

The persistent battering of the very strong winds resulted in thousands of power outages to residents across the area. Over 200,000 power outages were reported across Ohio. Damage to trees were common, as large limbs were snapped or whole trees uprooted, exasperated by wet soil conditions that allowed trees to be toppled easily. In some cases trees fell on homes, power wires, and other structures. At least 2 semi-trucks were flipped on area roadways and a ban on empty semi-trucks was issued prior to the onset of strong winds for the Ohio Turnpike and I-90 by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Structural damage from the wind was also reported to numerous structures.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 810551. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.