As you have likely surmised, Ohio has had a very active year thus far for severe storms. Not only have our farmers been fighting excessive rain since 2018, the severe storm count has been on the rise. In 2017, data from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) shows there were 43 confirmed tornadoes in Ohio. The number did drop to 17 tornadoes in 2018. The state typically averages around 19 touch downs per year. However, the count has jumped again so far in 2019, and we are only half way through the year. The preliminary tornado count for Ohio in 2019 is up to 55. However, the National Weather Service in Wilmington told Spectrum News 1 that the more accurate count is at 46 tornadoes as of June 26th, 2019. The data compiled by the Storm Prediction Center is preliminary and does include some duplicate reports. Those reports will be filtered out after the calendar year ends.
According to SPC data, the raw tornado count numbers shows that Ohio now ranks 8th in terms of the state with the most tornadoes in 2019. These are the preliminary numbers as the data will be quality controlled at the end of the year to remove any duplicate reports. It is likely though, despite the duplicate reports, that Ohio would likely remain in the top 10 even once any duplicate reports are removed.
It has been a very active weather pattern not only for Ohio, but for much of the country. There have been a total of 1225 tornadoes reported in the United States as of June 25th. This is the third highest number of tornadoes in nearly 20 years to date, with the top year being 2008 when there were nearly 2200 tornadoes as of late June. Number 2 was in 2011 when there were nearly 1900 tornadoes.
For Ohio, this is the 2nd highest count for tornadoes (46) for an entire year with the most occurring in 1992 when there were 61 tornadoes that touched down. Of course, we still have just over 6 more months to go.
Tornado Count Raw Numbers per Storm Prediction Center:
- Texas – 160
- Kansas – 111
- Oklahoma – 89
- Missouri – 89
- Mississippi - 88
- Alabama – 76
- Louisiana – 69
- Ohio – 55
- Georgia – 53
- Indiana - 37
