TRUMBULL TORNADO | Tornado was an EF-1, weather service confirms


story tease

VIENNA

Officials with the National Weather Service say they have confirmed at least one tornado touchdown occurred Thursday night in Trumbull County, but it’s in Fowler Township along state Route 193 and not several miles east along state Route 7 where they initially had indicated.

The NWS now says the tornado moved through from 7:11 p.m. to 7:21 p.m. and was to the north-northwest of Routes 193 and 305. It knocked down at least 100 trees, uprooted a residence just west of Route 193 north of Fowler Center and caused some damage to a mobile home.

The tornado had maximum wind speeds of 90 miles per hour and was classified as an EF-1, the second-lowest number on the Enhanced-Fugita Scale. The highest is EF-5. It had a path length of 1.25 miles and a maximum width of 250 yards.

On Thursday night, the NWS had believed a weak tornado touched down at 7:18 p.m. along Route 7 near Hartford Township and Yankee Lake.

But Capt. Mike Hagood, who is full-time with the Brookfield Fire Department and part time with the Vienna Fire Department, said he followed all three storms that passed through the county from about 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., staying a half mile from them. He said he didn’t believe any of the storms dropped a tornado to the ground.

Hagood said the most serious damage he saw in the county was north of Route 305 on state Route 193 in Fowler Township. That area is about a mile west of the location where the National Weather Service has now found indications of a tornado.

When the emergency sirens went off and the winds kicked up, Linda Arnal and her husband, Pat, gathered up the three grandchildren they were watching and took them to the basement.

"We could just hear a lot of noise. I was just trying to reassure them so they wouldn't be so scared," Linda said of the grandchildren.

A short time later the power went out.

When the storm had passed a little later, the Arnals discovered that 11 of the trees along the driveway of their home along state Route 193 in Fowler Township a short distance north of state Route 305 had been toppled, several of them across the driveway.

She later found flower pots from the front porch in the back yard, with the flowers still on the front porch. Numerous pieces of patio furniture had been tossed around the property.

On the other side of Route 193, trees were felled on two properties, one tree knocked down the power line.

The damage in Fowler Township appears to have been the worst of the storms that started around 7 p.m. and continued for more than an hour.

Meanwhile, workers at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport watched the skies throughout the storm and videotaped what they said were swirling funnel clouds and massive cloud formations directly above their heads.

They reported their sightings to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, two Hartford Township trustees this morning said there was almost no damage in Hartford Township from the storm, despite the National Weather Service reporting that it a tornado touched down in the Hartford area at 7:18 p.m.

Capt. Mike Hagood of the Brookfield and Vienna townships fire departments, said he followed the three storms from about 7 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. It showed potential to drop a tornado down many times over those 3 1/2 hours, but he doesn't believe it ever did.

One tree north of Yankee Lake in Hartford fell across state Route 7, but he doesn't believe that was caused by a tornado.

Hagood said he thinks the tree damage on Route 193 in Fowler Township was the worst damage that took place.

A sheriff's deputy working in the Fowler area Friday morning said he was not aware of any damage the storms caused to any homes or people, just to trees.

Linda Beil, Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency director, drove throughout the eastern parts of the county where the storms marched through. She spoke with people at the airport, Hartford, Fowler and Brookfield townships and found no one who thought a tornado had touched down.