Blue Ash Tornado of 1999

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
637 PM EDT FRI APR 9 1999

A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE STORMS IN THE TRI-STATE AREA.

A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MISSOURI
VALLEY THURSDAY AFTERNOON MIGRATED INTO THE OHIO VALLEY LATE
THURSDAY EVENING AND FRIDAY MORNING...AND PRODUCED  SUBSTANTIAL
DAMAGE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PORTION OF OHIO AND SOUTHEAST INDIANA. 
HARDEST HIT AREAS WERE BLUE ASH...MONTGOMERY AND LOVELAND...LOCATED 
NORTH THROUGH EAST OF CINCINNATI. NUMEROUS INJURIES HAVE BEEN 
REPORTED...AND AS MANY AS 9 UNCONFIRMED DEATHS ARE BEING BLAMED ON
THIS TORNADO.

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PERSONNEL... 
INDICATED AN F3 TORNADO THAT INTENSIFIED BRIEFLY TO F4 WITH WINDS
IN EXCESS OF 200 MPH TOUCHED DOWN IN THE BLUE ASH AREA.  AT LEAST
200 HOMES WERE DEMOLISHED AND ANOTHER 400 WERE DAMAGED.  THE
WIDTH OF THIS STORM VARIED FROM AS LITTLE AS 400 FEET TO NEARLY
A MILE...WHILE THE ESTIMATED PATH OF THIS TORNADO WAS 6 TO 7 MILES.

SEVERAL EYEWITNESSES REPORTED HEARING SIRENS AND TOOK NECESSARY 
PROTECTIVE ACTION. ALSO...SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED WEATHER
SERVICE SPOTTER TRAINING...INDICATED THAT THE SEVERE WEATHER 
PREPAREDNESS PLANS DEVELOPED PROVED TO BE VALUABLE.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THIS IS A PRELIMINARY
INVESTIGATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE FORTHCOMING.

TORRENCE

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
215 AM EDT SAT APR 10 1999

A DAMAGE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED BY WEATHER SERVICE AND LOCAL EMA 
OFFICIALS FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN CHAMPAIGN AND UNION COUNTIES IN
CENTRAL OHIO.  THE THUNDERSTORM MOVED EAST INTO CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
AROUND 545 AM. THIS STORM MOVED INTO THE MIDDLETOWN AREA IN THE 
NORTHEAST PART OF THE COUNTY ABOUT 6 AM. AS IT MOVED THROUGH... 
NUMEROUS TREES WERE UPROOTED AND SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OCCURRED TO
A FEW HOUSES AND MOBILE HOMES.

THE CONCENTRATION OF TORNADIC DAMAGE WAS BETWEEN STATE ROUTE 245 AND 
STATE ROUTE 296 NEAR MIDDLETOWN.  THE PATH WAS A QUARTER-MILE WIDE
AND A HALF-MILE LONG.  BASED ON THE DAMAGE THE TORNADO WAS RATED AN
F1 ON THE FUJITA SCALE.  OTHER AREAS OF STRAIGHT-LINE THUNDERSTORM
WIND DAMAGE ALSO OCCURRED IN THE AREA.

THE STORM FOLLOWED CLOSE TO STATE ROUTE 245 AS IT MOVED INTO UNION 
COUNTY.  NUMEROUS TREES WERE DOWNED ACROSS THE COUNTY.  A BARN WAS
ALSO BLOWN DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF MARYSVILLE. SOME OTHER MINOR 
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OCCURRED TO HOUSES AND BARNS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF 
MARYSVILLE.  ALL OF THIS DAMAGE WAS THE RESULT OF STRAIGHT-LINE 
THUNDERSTORM WINDS.

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