Power Outage in La Rue, OH

Winter Storm. An Arctic cold front swept through the area shortly before midnight December 23rd. Low pressure along this front tracked over Lake Erie early in the morning on December 23rd and rapidly intensified through the day while slowly lifting northeast across Ontario. With the frontal passage rain changed to snow with temperatures dropping from the upper 30s and lower 40s to sub-zero in about 8 hours. A period of light to moderate snow occurred behind the front across the county through the morning hours of December 23rd before tapering to flurries. The period of snow and rapidly falling temperatures led to a flash freeze and icy conditions on area roadways. While the falling snow became lighter through the daytime hours of December 23rd, winds began increasing during the pre-dawn hours and gusted over 35 MPH through the day. Marion County airport measured a 40 MPH wind gust at 2:52 AM December 23rd before failing. At nearby airports, a 41 MPH gust was clocked at Delaware Municipal at 7:15 AM with 45 MPH gusts recorded in Mansfield three times between 7:22 AM and 1:33 PM. This led to isolated power-outages. Wind gusts very gradually subsided into December 24th, though gusts didn���t drop below 30 MPH until that evening. This led to a prolonged period of widespread blowing and drifting snow beginning early in the morning December 23rd and continuing through the afternoon and evening, with some patchy blowing and drifting snow continuing all the way through Christmas Eve. The greatest impact from this storm was to travel due to the flash freeze and extensive blowing and drifting snow, to go along with low visibility. Nearly 150 minor accidents, slide-offs and disabled vehicles were reported throughout the county on December 23rd and 24th. Several of these accidents resulted in at least minor injuries. The Marion County Sheriff declared a Level 3 snow emergency the morning of December 23rd, which closed all roads in the county to non-emergency travel. This was not lifted until the next morning. Wind chills plunged below 0 by 4 AM December 23rd and did not rise above 0 until late in the evening on December 25th. A wind chill of -36F was recorded at 9:00 AM December 23rd on a mesonet station in Marion. Unfortunately, a 65 year old male lost his life due to prolonged exposure to this cold. A number of burst pipes were reported across northern and central Ohio due to this cold, with temperatures remaining in the single digits until Christmas morning. A trained spotter measured 2.5��� of snow in Marion with this storm.

December 23, 2022

Thunderstorm Wind. Power poles downed in Marion.

July 23, 2022

High Wind. Fairchild Road closed between Caledonia Ashley Road and Salem Road in Richland Township due to downed power lines.

March 26, 2021

Thunderstorm Wind. Marion County Emergency Management provided evidence of significant wind damage across the Marion area due to severe thunderstorm winds of up to 80 mph. Numerous trees and power lines were downed across the city with several large trees falling onto residences. Winds ripped off a significant portion of a roof of an industrial building on the west side of Marion. Winds also caused the brick facade of a building in downtown Marion to collapse onto a vehicle. The vehicle was occupied at the time of the damage and the female occupant sustained minor injuries. There was also evidence on social media that a gustnado may have formed with the squall line that moved through the Marion area just before 6 pm local time.

June 10, 2020

High Wind. High winds of at least 60 mph moved through Marion County on the morning of December 30th. Numerous trees and power lines were downed throughout the county, resulting in power outages in Marion, Waldo, and Big Island Township.

December 30, 2019