YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – For the second time this month, the Valley got hit with a tornado, as at least three tornadoes were confirmed in Ohio after multiple rounds of thunderstorms Tuesday.
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Incredible video was captured on WKBN 27 First News’ weather camera as the severe storm rolled through the Valley. First News was on air for over 90 minutes, tracking the storm as it traveled just north of the Youngstown State University campus into Hubbard and then onto western Pennsylvania.
Video captured by viewers and shared with First News shows the tornado rotating as it moved across the horizon.
The National Weather Service offices in Cleveland and in Pittsburgh have been on site in Trumbull, Mahoning and Lawrence counties to confirm the path and intensity of the tornado.
First News spoke with Freddie Ziegler, a warning coordination meteorologist from NWS in Cleveland, about how they’re tracking the path.
Ziegler said their mission started last night almost immediately after the tornado passed through. They were making calls to emergency managers in the area before they even stepped foot on the path. Then, first thing Wednesday morning, they made the drive over to see for themselves.
“It was straightforward, and also the tower cam helps as well. So, that kind of solidified, yeah, that was a tornado,” Ziegler said.
The NWS declared it on the high end of an EF-0 tornado, reaching 85 miles per hour at its peak before crossing into Pennsylvania.
“We’re looking for a start point and end point — how wide the tornado was and then how much damage,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler said the tornado formed in Liberty Township around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday before working its way down into the East Side of Youngstown and eventually over into Pennsylvania. All of it lasted just 15 minutes.
“Most of the damage indicators were on trees. What I mean by damage indicator — talk about the objects and how the winds affected the object — so, it can be trees, it could be houses, it could be any kind of structure. Cars flipped over, stuff like that,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler said they coordinated with local emergency management agencies and spoke with impacted residents while surveying. Though they came across a lot of property damage, the report shows no one was injured from the storm.
“We appreciate the people that we talked to, and hopefully they remain safe, and I know that can be a trying situation to go through this. We heard a lot of generators going on. So, we know there’s a lot of power still out. But we saw so many power companies out there. Hopefully, the turnaround to get back to normal will be short,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler said this is the season of discrete storms, and the Valley has already had a few. He says it’s important to take them seriously and take safety precautions.
First News has had crews out surveying damage to see which areas were most impacted. One of the hardest hit areas is Youngstown’s East Side. Many neighboring residents saw downed trees and power lines. Some trees were snapped in half, and others were completely uprooted.
Another area hit was State Route 616 near McGuffey Road, where a tractor was flipped over by heavy winds and downed trees blocked Applegate Road.
As the storm moved southeastward, three more tornadoes were confirmed in Lawrence and Butler counties. The next touchdown was also an EF-0, with maximum winds of 80 miles per hour, which occurred in Villa Maria, PA – along Evergreen Road and Coffee Run Road just off US-422.
Additionally, two other weak EF-0 tornadoes were confirmed in Butler County. One just south-southeast of Portersville, PA and another just southwest of Prospect, PA.
Other tornadoes from Tuesday’s storms include one in Muskingum County, where a tornado was confirmed northwest of Duncan Falls.
The National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh sent a team to survey the damage from southeastern Licking County and the Brownsville area southeast to near the Noble County line, where another crew will examine wind damage in Noble and Monroe counties.
Craig Ziobert contributed to this report.