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All Weather News

Tornadoes Strike Northeast Ohio Tuesday Night

8 Apr 2020, 3:30 pm

Severe thunderstorms developed across the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.  These storms brought incredibly large hail and damaging wind to multiple states.  Unfortunately, these storms also spawned at least three tornadoes in Ohio.

Well after dark on Tuesday night, a powerful line of severe thunderstorms moved southeast off of Lake Erie into northern Ohio.

As the line of storms continued to move inland, rotation began to occur in some rural and suburban areas southwest of Cleveland just after 11 pm ET.  A Tornado Warning was issued by the National Weather Service’s Cleveland weather forecast office.

Around 11:30 pm ET, a dangerous nighttime tornado touched down near the village of Grafton in Lorain County.  This tornado stayed on the ground for approximately ten minutes, covering 11.5 miles moving in a southeast direction.  The tornado eventually lifted south of the city of Medina in Medina County at 11:40 pm ET.

Tornado damage peaked at EF-1 intensity with maximum wind speeds of 100 miles per hour.  Numerous large trees toppled onto homes and buildings, causing extensive damage in some cases.

As the line of severe thunderstorms continued southeast from there, an EF-1 tornado touched down just before midnight in Summit County.  From the city of Barberton to the city of Green, this tornado impacted suburban areas of Akron.

Preliminary information from the National Weather Service indicate that this tornado was on the ground for approximately 10 miles and had winds up to 90 miles per hour.

Further south in Stark County, another tornado touched down around 12:22 am ET.  Tornado sirens were blaring throughout the county, including the city of Canton.

This tornado was rated an EF-0, with maximum wind speeds of 80 miles per hour.  It was on the ground for just over 2 miles near the small village of East Sparta.

Springtime is an especially volatile season for severe weather and tornadoes across the United States.  In fact, the threat of severe weather is in the forecast all the way through Sunday!  Keep it tuned to WeatherNation as we track storms from the Midwest to the South.

For WeatherNation, I’m Meteorologist Joe Astolfi.

About the author
Joe Astolfi
Joe Astolfi has been a weather enthusiast and geography guru ever since childhood.  After earning an Associate degree at Terra State Community College in Ohio, he decided to pursue a Bachelor degree in meteorology at Northern Illinois University.  He minored in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  Before arriving at WeatherNation TV, Joe worked at WREX-TV in Rockford, Illinois.  Forecasting ... Load Morefor northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin was anything but ordinary.  Severe storms, tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, and heat waves are just some of the extreme weather events he has covered.  Joe grew up in Sandusky, Ohio and will always have a passion for the Great Lakes region and all it has to offer.

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