Weather Service not sure if Thursday storm included tornado

Staff report

The National Weather Service in Cleveland says it doesn’t know yet if a tornado was responsible for any of the damage Thursday afternoon in the Geauga County community of Middlefield or in parts of Trumbull County, but they will continue to study it to make a determination.

The most serious damage may have been to the roof of a structure on Kinsman Road (State Route 87) in Middlefield, but there also were wires and trees down on Nauvoo Road a short distance north.

Tom King, NWS meteorologist, said the NWS may have to travel to the Middlfield area and continue east today to view the path of the afternoon storm to look for clues.

The NWS issued a tornado warning about 2:30 p.m. for the Middlefield area and northwest Trumbull County after observing rotation in the storm.

The storm continued through Mesopotamia, Farmington, Bristol, Champion and Bazetta townships and into the Howland Township and Warren areas.

The tornado warning expired at 3:30 when the storm was coming through the Champion area, but the NWS then replaced it with a severe thunderstorm warning.

The storm dumped large amounts of rain in the Champion Bazetta areas, knocking a tree down on state Route 45 just north of Champion.

But the Bazetta Fire Department said it had not been called to respond to any storm related emergencies.

The Trumbull 911 Center says there were fewer than 10 calls for power lines and trees down in Trumbull County, most in the Farmington, Mesopotamia and Champion areas, but nothing more serious than that.

A supervisor said he is not aware of a tornado touching down anywhere in Trumbull County.

Some schools apparently kept children past their normal release time as tornado sirens blared.

The storm was reportedly in the Vienna, McDonald, Mecca, Yankee Lake, Brookfield Center, Churchill, Howland Center and Bolindale areas at the point where the severe thunderstorm warning ended.