News Release

NASA's GPM radar spots tornado spawning thunderstorms in Ohio Valley

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

GPM 3-D Image of Storms in Midwest

image: On Nov. 5, GPM'S radar showed that some storms near the northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania borders were dropping rain at a rate of greater than 3.6 inches (92 mm) per hour. GPM satellite's radar uncloaked storm tops that were reaching heights above 6.7 miles (10.8 km). view more 

Credit: NASA / JAXA, Hal Pierce

Severe weather that rolled through the Ohio Valley on Nov. 5 was analyzed by NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM satellite. GPM provided forecasters at the National Weather Service with rain rates and cloud heights that showed where strongest storms were located.

Tornadoes were reported on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 5 in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. At least nine twisters were reported between 2:40 PM EDT and 7:22 PM EDT (1840 - 2322 UTC). This unsettled weather caused many customers to lose electric power in northern Ohio. One powerful storm injured eight people in the northern Ohio town of Celina.

NWS Weather Prediction Center (NWS WPC), College Park, Md. noted in their Short Range Forecast Discussion on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 3:09 a.m. EST "There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain is possible over the Ohio Valley."

Showers and thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a frontal boundary from the Lower Great Lakes/Ohio Valley into the Middle Mississippi Valley. That boundary moved eastward to the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Coast and extends southwestward across the Central/Southern Appalachians into the Tennessee Valley and the Lower Mississippi Valley by Monday evening.

Tornadoes were reported on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 5 in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. At least nine twisters were reported between 2:40 PM EDT and 7:22 PM EDT (1840 - 2322 UTC). This unsettled weather caused many customers to lose electric power in northern Ohio. One powerful storm injured eight people in the northern Ohio town of Celina.

NWS Weather Prediction Center (NWS WPC), College Park, Md. noted in their Short Range Forecast Discussion on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 3:09 a.m. EST "There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain is possible over the Ohio Valley."

Showers and thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a frontal boundary from the Lower Great Lakes/Ohio Valley into the Middle Mississippi Valley. That boundary moved eastward to the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Coast and extends southwestward across the Central/Southern Appalachians into the Tennessee Valley and the Lower Mississippi Valley by Monday evening.

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