By Aaron Wilson and Tony Nye et.al
Though not in the heart of Tornado Alley, Ohio certainly deals with its fair share of severe weather. The season typically ramps up during May and June, but severe weather so far in 2021 has been rather benign.
This changed in a big way this past weekend, with numerous reports of damaging winds and large hail. According to the National Weather
Weather
Service, two tornadoes (first of the year) hit western and southwestern Ohio on Friday, June 18. An EF2 tornado, with winds to 115 mph and up to 200 yards wide, struck just north of Ft. Recovery in Mercer County, causing extensive damage to barns, livestock, and fields. Another, weaker EF1 tornado moved from southwest Montgomery County into northeast Butler County.
A large swath of straight-line winds brought down numerous trees and lodged corn and wheat, while hail as big as 2.50” in diameter (tennis ball) combined with wind to shred some young crops across southwest Ohio. Much of southwest Ohio picked up 2-7” of rainfall, some of this occurring in less than one hour, leaving this area of the state in need of some drying weather to get back to cutting hay, wheat, and side dressing corn.
Calmer, cooler, and drier weather will filter in for Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs in the 60s and 70s and overnight lows in the mid-40s to low 50s. Heat and humidity will return late week through the weekend with numerous opportunities for showers and thunderstorms.
Several machine sheds and hay storage buildings were destroyed at this dairy farm near the intersection of Fox and Meiring roads Friday afternoon when a tornado touched down near Fort Recovery. The house and main cow barn are still standing.
Source : osu.edu