Ohio breaks tornado record already in 2024

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The National Weather Service in Cleveland confirmed a brief EF-0 tornado in Huron County Saturday.

While the tornado itself was insignificant, this tornado now puts the 2024 total tornado count at 63 tornadoes, which makes it the most in a year ever. The statistic is even more incredible given the fact that there are still six months to go this year!

Ohio only averages 22 tornadoes per year, so 2024 has nearly tripled the average tornado count. The record of 62 tornadoes in 1992 has been challenged a couple of times over the past few years, including 2023 when there were 60 confirmed tornadoes.

Summer/fall is an active time for tornadoes in Ohio with three tornadoes on average in July and two tornadoes on average in August, so it stands to reason that the total will likely increase by the end of 2024.

Since 2019, the three most active tornado years have occurred in 2019, 2023, and 2024, and a logical question to ask is why?

What has caused this record tornado year?

One of the major factors that caused a record year for tornadoes was the above-normal warmth for both the winter and spring seasons. The 2023-2024 winter along with the 2024 spring season were the second warmest of all time at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport, and these numbers were similar across all of Ohio. This provided ample opportunities for severe weather, including tornadoes, in months that would typically not feature strong thunderstorms.

Indeed, a tornado outbreak impacted central parts of Ohio on February 28 , producing nine tornadoes. Climatologically speaking, the state of Ohio does not average even one tornado during February because temperatures are often too cold for significant thunderstorm activity.

The tornadic activity in March was even more impressive in Ohio, with 10 confirmed tornadoes in a month, which usually only averages one. The above-average tornadic activity continued into April (16) and May (23). There were five tornadoes in June, with one tornado above average.

However, the above-normal temperatures are just one of the reasons for higher tornado counts over the past few years. Another major factor in the increased tornado reports has been a significant increase in radar technology.

Tornadoes are now easier to detect on weather radars than they were in the past. The reason for this is because of increased utilization of polarimetric radars by the National Weather Service (NWS).

Polarimetric is a confusing word. What does it mean? Polarimetric weather radars transmit and receive in both the horizontal and vertical planes. This is an improvement over earlier NWS radars, which only transmitted in the horizontal plane. Gathering information in the vertical and horizontal planes informs the meteorologist about the size, shape, and orientation of the particles detected by radar.

The NWS radar upgrade to polarimetric capabilities was completed around 10 years ago and since then, it has allowed for better detection of tornadic activity because meteorologists can now distinguish between precipitation and debris from a tornado. Tornadoes can now be detected by radar even if there is no one around to see it. Therefore, another reason for increased tornadic activity over the past few years is better detection!

There will be many more thunderstorms across Ohio over the next few months. You can always stay informed about severe weather in the Valley by checking out the Youngstown Weather Radar .

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