High Wind — Crawford, Ohio

2019-12-30 · Crawford, Ohio

Event narrative

High wind gusts of at least 60 mph downed trees, large limbs and power lines throughout the county. Scattered power outages were reported. Two trees fell onto homes in Bucyrus.

Wider weather episode

Around Midnight on December 30th, a 997 mb area of low pressure over the Cincinnati metro area quickly moved north overnight, deepening to 988 mb over the Detroit metro by daybreak. As this low pressure system moved north with its associated occluded front, southwest winds increased over northern and central Ohio with wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph. Some light showers ahead of the occluded front allowed for some wind gusts of 55 to 70 mph to enter the region, causing wind damage over the area. Behind the occluded front, winds remained elevated over the region with wind gusts to 55 mph reported through the late morning hours. Peak gusts around the area during this event include: 71 mph in Sandusky, 67 mph at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, 66 mph at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport, 64 mph at Port Clinton Carl R Keller Airport, and 63 mph at Lorain County Airport. Widespread tree and power line damage was evident across northern and central Ohio and up to 50,000 power outages were noted across the area during the morning hours of the 30th. One injury was noted in Westlake in Cuyahoga County when winds caused a tree and power lines to fall on an occupied car.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 870089. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.