[8:30pm Sunday Update] Ohio utilities report nearly 200,000 Ohio electric customers are without power as high winds blast Ohio late in Sunday evening.

 

[2:30pm Sunday] A powerful storm system has pushed into the Ohio Valley on Sunday leading to high winds across the area. The National Weather service reports wind gusts over 60mph have been reported across northern and parts of central Ohio. Just before 2pm, a wind gust of 68mph was measured at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. A wind gust of nearly 64mph was reported in Columbus at Ohio State University's airport. Emergency managers from several counties across northern Ohio, including Marion County are urging those that have to travel to use extreme caution as there have been numerous reports of trees down across roads and in some cases, live power-lines. 

Spectrum News 1 has checked with several major power companies across Ohio and they have reported that over 140,000 [near 200,000 as of 8:30pm] customers were without power as of 2:00pm Sunday and that number was increasing as high winds continued into the afternoon. Spectrum News 1 meteorologists say the strong winds are likely to continue into the early evening before diminishing with the loss of day time heating. The gusty winds are bringing in colder as temperatures have been falling through the 30s. Lows tonight are expected to dip into the teens to lower 20s by morning as skies clear tonight. Temperatures are forecast to remain near or below normal through the week ahead. Our meteorologists believe another intense storm system, possibly again with strong winds, could threaten the Ohio Valley next weekend as March arrives.

OTHER HIGH WIND REPORTS:

  • Fairport Harbor: 68mph
  • Columbus (OSU): 64mph
  • Findlay Airport: 63mph
  • Youngstown: 61mph
  • Lorain: 61mph
  • Vermilion: 61mph
  • Toledo (airport): 61mph
  • London: 59mph
  • Newark: 58mph
  • Marysville: 54mph
  • Washington C.H.: 52mph
  • Lancaster: 48mph
  • Chillicothe: 49mph

-Chief Meteorologist Eric Elwell

 

Here are some of the major electric utilities to check for local outages: