Remembering Ohio's historic February tornado outbreak one year ago ...Middle East

Central Ohio Weather and Radar

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Many residents in the Columbus area were rudely awakened by the unsettling sound of tornado sirens blaring in the predawn hours of Feb. 28, 2024. Incredibly, for the second year in a row, multiple tornadoes touched down in central Ohio in late February.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington conducted storm surveys in the days after the outbreak, counting eight tornadoes in an area between Dayton and Newark that roughly paralleled the Interstate 70 corridor. A final (ninth) tornado was confirmed in eastern Ohio in Monroe County by the Pittsburgh NWS office, a state record for February.

Confirmed tornadoes on Feb. 28, 2024 (Enhanced Fujita Scale)

Five tornadoes were recorded in central Ohio almost a year to the date on Feb. 27, 2023, which had set the previous February record.

Rare February tornado outbreak in central Ohio

The first tornado in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, 2024, formed just south of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base a little before 4:40 a.m. in Montgomery County, northeast of Dayton, and traveled 2.4 miles into Greene County, damaging a hangar, several planes undergoing restoration, and adjacent property around the National Museum for the U.S. Air Force.

The strongest tornado developed at 4:52 a.m. five miles southeast of Springfield, in Clark County and tracked 22.3 miles, before lifting four miles northeast of London, in Madison County.

Several homes had major roof damage in Clark County, and more than a dozen barns and outbuildings were damaged as the storm intensified. Farther east, the second story of a home was destroyed. The path width widened to 500 yards, as peak winds reached 130 mph (EF2). The path length was the longest ever recorded in February in Ohio.

The tornado caused significant damage to planes and metal hangars at the Madison County Airport, and left a trail of damage at the Ohio State University's Molly Caren Agricultural Center near U.S. 40. One home had substantial damage as the storm continued northeast, losing a portion of its second story.

Another circulation spawned a tornado one mile east of London along State Route 665 at 5:14 a.m. that tracked northeast for 9.2 miles. The storm initially caused minor damage to trees and tipped a trailer.

Peak winds were estimated at 110 mph, damaging a house on Lafayette-Plain City Road. As the storm grew more intense, the roof of a home was partially torn off at Wilson Road, and tree trunks were snapped along its path.

The tornado continued east-northeast across the Big Darby Creek into southwest Franklin County, ending near the intersection of Alton Road and Murnan Road.

The supercell that spawned the tornado tracking east across the middle of Madison County gave rise to a tornado in Brown Township, Franklin County, at 5:26 a.m. three miles southwest of Hilliard. The storm tracked east a little north of Roberts Road for 3.8 miles, snapping and uprooting trees, and damaging the siding of several homes in Hilliard.

The funnel expanded to a width of 300 yards. A home along Hilliard-Rome Road was destroyed, and another had the attached garage "peeled away and shifted." Fortunately, no injuries occurred, which is remarkable considering the path through a suburban area. Weaker EF0 storms were confirmed at Darbydale, Harrisburg and Groveport, in the southern part of Franklin County.

A strong tornado developed three miles east of Gahanna at 5:49 a.m. and traveled 14 miles into Licking County. One home lost a roof and exterior wall as the storm intensified, with debris strewn for hundreds of yards, where the storm reached peak intensity, with 120 mph winds (EF2).

Numerous trees were blown down that blocked roads, and several barns were damaged or destroyed north of Pataskala near Jersey. The tornado weakened before dissipating on the outskirts of Granville. There was also evidence of straight-line wind damage near the end of the storm's path.

Additional wind damage in Fairfield County along Basil Western Road and Reynoldsburg Baltimore Road, east of Pickerington and Canal Winchester, was determined to be caused by downburst wind gusts up to 70 mph. Downed trees, power poles, and torn roof panels on several barns, were caused by strong winds along the leading edge of the line of severe storms.

Meteorological setup for storms in late February 2024

The powerful line of late-winter thunderstorms evolved in a strong El Niño climate pattern, a cyclical warming of the eastern tropical Pacific that fuels a strong subtropical jet stream, infusing storm systems with deep, tropical moisture and wind energy.

A surge of unseasonably humid air arrived ahead of low pressure tracking from near Chicago to Lower Michigan on the night of Feb. 27-28, 2024. The interaction of warm air for late February, which set a record high temperature of 65 in Columbus after midnight, and a strong cold front, coupled with strong winds shifting with altitude, created the setup for rotating storm updrafts. Behind the cold front, temperatures to plummet more than 40 degrees on Feb. 28.

Andrew Hatzos, a meteorologist at the NWS office in Wilmington, said, "We observed as many as four simultaneous circulations associated with these storms, extending from Hilliard southward to Harrisburg at about 5:30 a.m."

Hatzos noted that the squall line of storms had characteristics of supercell, or rotating, thunderstorms. "When that occurred, it resulted in the strongest tornadoes from the event--the the EF2 near Springfield, and the EF2 near Blacklick/Jersey," he said, adding, "At one time or another, all four of these circulations produced tornadoes."

"Multiple circulations in similar situations have also been observed in our area in numerous other weather events, with Oct. 26, 2010 and March 1, 2017, as two examples," Hatzso said.

Record tornado season in Ohio in 2024

The 2024 tornado season was long and historic, resulting in a record 74 confirmed storms across the state, exceeding the record of 62 set in 1992. The most active months were February (9), March (10), April (16) and May (23). The last confirmed tornado of the year occurred on Dec. 29 in Union County (EF0).

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Remembering Ohio's historic February tornado outbreak one year ago )

Also on site :

• US launches new probe into India’s Adani over Iran trade – WSJ
• Today’s NYT ‘Strands’ Hints, Spangram and Answers for Tuesday, June 3
• Joe Jonas Reflects on Infamous ‘South Park’ Episode: ‘I Was the Only Brother That Loved It’