NWS: Weak tornado went through Darke, Miami counties

The National Weather Service in Wilmington has confirmed a tornado touched down during Saturday evening storms in Darke County.

• An EF0 tornado touched down in Adams Twp., Darke County
• Strong storms Saturday evening prompted tornado warnings in several counties across Miami Valley
• Most damage reports isolated to eastern Darke County

UPDATE @ 10:20 p.m.

The tornado that touched down had maximum wind speeds of 76 mph and is rated an EF0, the weakest category for tornadoes with maximum wind speeds between 65 and 85 mph. The path width was 50 yards and stretched for 4 miles, according to preliminary survey information released Sunday evening by the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

The tornado touched down at 6:15 p.m. in a cornfield north of Neff Road and continued northeast across the 5200 block of Gettysburg-Pitsburg Road, leaving a home untouched but knocked down a rotted tree behind the home. A barn behind the home sustained significant damage, losing a quarter of its roof and the overhang attached to the back of the barn. The barn’s sliding front door was flipped up over the roof and a small tractor-trailer parked behind the barn was flipped onto its side and damaged by debris. Flying debris from the barn was found 200 yards east into a soybean field behind the farm, and a few large branches were snapped off a tree behind the barn, the NWS reported.

The tornado’s path stretched for for miles through soybean and cornfields. It passed about 300 feet north of a residence on Yount Road. Downstream crop damage revealed the tornado crossed Byreley Road, Red River-West Grove Road and Grise Road. The tornado path ended in a soybean field shortly after crossing Ohio 721 in Miami County just east of the county line between Darke and Miami counties, according to the report.

UPDATE @ 4:15 p.m. (Aug. 21)

An official with the National Weather Service in Wilmington said there’s evidence on the ground in Darke County that a tornado ripped through croplands and destroyed property along Gettysburg-Pittsburg Road between the villages of Gettysburg and Bradford.

Mike Kurz, NWS meteorologist, said the agency saw pictures of funnel clouds and a possible tornado online and some were sent to them from spotters.

“Once we started to get the reports of damage from some of these same areas, we wanted to come out and see if it was indeed tornado-related and how strong might the winds have been,” he said.

Kurz confirmed the only structural damage reported was on Gettysburg-Pitsburg Road where a barn was damaged and a large truck was flipped over on its side. There was also some tree damage in the same area.

“The rest of the path looks to be confined to just mainly farmland and cornfields and things of that sort,” Kurz said. “That’s the fortunate thing. Most of this damage was confined to rural crops.”

As the tornado continued to the northeast, most of the damage was confined to farmland.

“But that cell that produced the tornado south of Gettysburg was pretty persistent in showing strong rotations, so we’re going to continue traveling some roads further northeast of this damaged area to see if we find any other indications of damage in the area.”

A lot of times during a damage survey it’s not “crystal clear” if there was a tornado or straight line winds.

“The advantage that we had with this storm survey was that from the pictures and video we saw from Saturday night’s storms we knew that it was likely a tornado just from the from the funnel cloud reports and the spotter reports we received,” Kurz said. So going into this it was just a question of how strong were the winds that caused this damage.”

Typically, there are a number of factors that are evaluated such as how the damage is laid out; whether it’s a straight path or fanned out, he said.

The thing that helped was the spotter reports the night before and surveying Dark County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management Agency.

“From the ground, we’re not able to get a good aerial view point, but looking at the drone video we could get a good idea of where the path was” he said.

UPDATE @ noon

The National Weather Service in Wilmington has confirmed that a weak tornado caused damage in Darke County.

The NWS survey crew has confirmed that damage evident five miles southwest of Bradford is “tornadic in nature and consistent with a higher end EF0,” according to a release.

More details, such as timing, path length, width and estimated wind speeds are expected to be released this afternoon.

UPDATE @ 11:45 a.m.

A storm survey team with the National Weather Service in Wilmington visited sites this morning in Darke County where it’s believed a tornado destroyed a barn, overturned at least one commercial truck and damaged crops.

The survey team met with Darke County’s emergency management to visit the sites in the eastern part of the county, south of Gettysburg and Bradford.

The survey team will also visit damage locations in Delaware County.

The weather service later today is expected to release the survey results, which will indicate whether a tornado touched the ground Saturday evening.

A tornado was spotted in the sky in the area of Covington in Miami County.

EARLIER

A commercial box truck was upturned, a barn destroyed and some crops damaged in Darke County on Saturday evening as strong storms prompted tornado warnings for parts of the Miami Valley.

The National Weather Service announced late Saturday night that a team on Sunday will conduct a storm survey of damages caused by the severe thunderstorms that tracked from eastern Darke County to Logan County. The survey will begin in eastern Darke County, and a final assessment is expected by late Sunday afternoon, according to the NWS.

Property owner Gene Garber was away from home during tonight’s storms. An overturned truck and destroyed barn with metal roofing material strews all over the ground greeted him at his property in the 5000 block of Gettysburg-Pitsburg Road, which is located near the Pleasant View Missionary Church south of Bradford and south of U.S. 36 in Franklin Twp. in Darke County.

“I came home as quick as I could. There was a lot of traffic, I couldn’t get in the driveway but I got back here and seen the damage. It was kind of overwhelming,” he said.

The Darke County Sheriff’s Office and Gettysburg Rural Fire Department were among crews out responding to damage reports.

“Looks like we had a tornado touch down just west of this property, took out the barn, and then we’ve got crop damage all the way over to (Ohio) 721 for about 4½ miles,” said Tom Hill of the fire department about damage in that section of Gettysburg-Pitsburg Road.

A trained weather spotter reported seeing a tornado on the ground in eastern Darke County, but the NWS has not confirmed that report.

A few miles south on Gettysburg-Pitsburg Road in Adams Twp., Dan and DeeDee Warner were assessing damage at their cornfields.

“A small tornado’s come through the area and managed to blow over the electrical supply for our irrigation systems,” Dan Warner said. “There’s some corn broke off, but it’s just on the one end so it’s kind of minimal damage, fortunately.”

The Warners said they are pleased the damage wasn’t worse, and that they were all safe eating pizza with their daughter and grandchildren at a restaurant several miles away in Pleasant Hill when the storms rolled through.

“Right now I’m just thankful it wasn’t worse. Very thankful,” Dan Warner said. “Storms like this can easily tip over the irrigation systems and cause major damage.”

The path of the storm extended from eastern Darke County up into Logan County. Although the NWS confirmed a tornado was spotted over the Piqua area, there were no reports it touched ground and there were no damage reports in Miami County. There also were no reports of human or animal injuries as a result of the storms.