January 8, 2019 Cortland Tornado

Unusual January Tornado in Cortland, Ohio on January 8, 2019

Weather Conditions

January 8th, 2019 was an unseasonably warm day across northern Ohio. A warm front had moved through the previous evening and temperatures across much of the area were already into the mid 50s by late morning. The normal high temperature in January for Youngstown is 32 degrees, meaning temperatures were running 20 or more degrees above normal. Showers and scattered thunderstorms developed and moved east across the area during the morning fueled by increasing moisture advection. The dewpoints just prior to tornado touchdown were in the upper 40s. Small hail was common with the thunderstorms due to low freezing levels around 6000 feet. Surface based CAPE values increased to 250 J/kg. Several locations across northern Ohio reported hail covering the ground, with some stones as large as a penny.  

As the thunderstorms moved into Northeast Ohio, surface winds became increasingly backed which produced a more favorable environment for rotation. A tornado developed in Trumbull County, northeast of Champion Township and moved eastward across Mosquito Creek Lake and into the western part of Cortland. A second tornado associated with the same mesocyclone developed downstream in Mercer County in Pennsylvania. See the below Public Information Statement for details about the Cortland tornado. Information about the Mercer County Tornado can be accessed on the NWS Pittsburgh web page at https://www.weather.gov/pbz/Tornado.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
216 PM EST TUE JAN 8 2019

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 01/08/19 TORNADO EVENT...

.CONFIRMED EF-1 TORNADO NEAR CORTLAND...

START LOCATION...NE OF CHAMPION TOWNSHIP IN TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO
END LOCATION...WEST SIDE OF CORTLAND IN TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO 
DATE...JAN 08 2019
ESTIMATED TIME...10:25 AM
MAXIMUM EF- SCALE RATING...EF-1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...95-100 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...75 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...4.5 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON...41.3252/-80.8109
ENDING LAT/LON...41.3318/-80.7263
FATALITIES...0
INJURIES...0

...SUMMARY...
AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NE OF CHAMPION TOWNSHIP AND
MOVED EASTWARD ACROSS MOSQUITO CREEK LAKE AND INTO THE WESTERN 
PART OF CORTLAND. THE TORNADO KNOCKED DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND 
WIRES ALONG THE TORNADO PATH. SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO A CEMETERY 
OUTBUILDING ALSO OCCURRED JUST WEST OF MOSQUITO CREEK LAKE ALONG
WITH SOME OTHER MINOR PROPERTY DAMAGE.


EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWS
STORM DATA.

$$

PS

Photos from the damage survey