Ohio has experienced two tornado episodes this year, and it’s only mid-March.
I believe all the confirmed tornadoes were logged on the National Weather Service’s Damage Assessment Toolkit, which shows the state had 10 confirmed tornadoes up through March 13. All but one of those happened on Feb. 28.
However, the severe storms the afternoon and evening of March 14 will add several more tornadoes to the tally. The radar in Wilmington was able to detect tornado debris 25,000 feet aloft from a storm more than 50 miles away. A fire department would later report the tornado was a half-mile wide.
It’ll take some time for the final numbers to come out, though.
This season has been unusually active. According to data collected by Tornado Archive, 91 known tornadoes happened in Ohio between Jan. 1 and March 14 going back to the 1800s. Since 1950, when more reliable records began, that total is 74 tornadoes.
That’s an average of about one per year, although some years have multiple while others have none. Over the past decade, the average is closer to about three tornadoes through March 14.
By my count, the record for most tornadoes through March 14 is 10 in 1986; Thursday night’s activity will easily move 2024 past that.