It was early in the evening when an area of low pressure rapidly intensified as it entered the state. At 7:47 p.m., a severe storm moving through Wayne County, Ind. produced the first tornado of the night in Harveysburg in Warren County.
About 45 minutes later, a second tornado would briefly touch down near Octa, Ohio in Fayette County. According to witness reports and based on radar, this tornado would travel in an a-typical direction from southeast to the northwest before dissipating in Greene County near Jamestown. This unusual path would be a theme among the tornadoes to follow as they traveled counter-clockwise around the low pressure moving north through the region.
A third tornado would occur at nearly the same time as the Octa tornado, but just west of Xenia in Beavercreek Twp. While on the ground for almost three miles, it would only cause damage to trees and power lines.
The fourth tornado would travel across the Greene-Clark county line. Shortly after 9pm is when this EF0 tornado moved from Fairborn to Medway, Ohio. Several manufactured homes sustained roof and siding damage.
The next tornado would be the strongest. Storm Center 7 Chief Meteorologist Eric Elwell was tracking this storm live on WHIO TV when it appeared on camera. It was clear based on the visuals this twister was causing a lot of damage. Parke Layne would be in the path of this EF1 tornado. This width of this tornado spanned nearly 3 football fields across. Several business in its path were destroyed or severely damaged.
Five miles south of Piqua is where the final tornado of the night developed. While only on the ground for about a minute, it produced EF1 damage with winds up to 9 0mph.
Severe weather season for southwest Ohio typically begins in April and last through the summer. It was an active start to the year with a reported nine tornadoes by early April. Since then it’s been somewhat quiet, but don’t let your guard down as there are many more months to go.
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