Power Outage in Zanesville, OH

High wind gusts accompanied a strong low pressure system on December 23rd and continue into December 24th. Measured wind gusts across eastern Ohio ranged between 40 to 50mph. Isolated power outages occurred. Measured wind gust from Zanesville, OH ASOS was 47mph. Sustain winds of 30mph was measured at 5:10am on December 23rd near the city of Pleasant Grove, OH.

Multiple large trees and power lines were blown down.

Social media reports of power outages and trees down with second line of convection.

Tree limbs and power poles were blown down.

A trained spotter reported multiple trees down and widespread power outages.

A Fire Chief reported tree down on power lines on Russel Drive.

A 911 Call Center reported numerous trees and power lines down across the town.

An emergency manager reported several trees and power lines down, including in the vicinity of Fair Street and Maysville Pike.

Wind damage was reported across much of the county, one instance of which included trees and power lines down around the intersection of Norfield Road and State Route 93.

Law enforcement reported numerous trees and a few power lines down.

Local 911 center reported trees and power lines down on the south side of town.

Emergency management reported a tree down on power lines in Newton Township.

The 911 center reported power lines down in Zanesville.

Emergency management reported trees and power lines down in Zanesville and around the county.

Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down countywide.

Many large trees and power lines down.

Numerous trees and power lines blown down along I-70.

Trees and power lines down.

Many trees and power lines blown down.

Trees and power lines blown down by wind in Zanesville, Adamsville, and Dresden. At least one tree fell on a house.

Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and power lines.

Thunderstorm winds downed several large trees and power lines.

Thunderstorm winds downed a few trees and power lines.

A more widespread wind damage event finally occurred on July 23rd. A quasi-linear mesoscale convective system, originating over Illinois and Indiana, continued into a warm, moist, and unstable air mass over the Upper Ohio Valley. The line of storms crossed during the midday and early afternoon hours, with widespread wind damage to trees and power lines resulting.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, January 16th, a powerful polar front jet dug a deep trough into the Middle Mississippi Valley and into the lower Appalachian Range. Here some phasing occurred with the southern subtropical jet providing ample moisture into the developing system. The surface low then deepened as it tracked northeast along the eastern side of the Appalachian Range. As the system strengthened and lifted north, the northern fringe of precipitation began over the Pittsburgh area by 4 PM. As the system intensified, the deformation banded heavy snowfall set up along the PA/OH border northeast into the northern PA counties, and west into OH. Here is where the heaviest snow fell with some locations getting more than a foot of snow. An area of mid and upper level drying set up at the foothills of the Laurel Ridges into Fayette, Westmoreland, Greene, Washington, Marion, and Monongalia Counties. Here is where the dry slot set up cutting into the snowfall amounts ranging from 3 to 6 inches due to periods of sleet and freezing rain. This feature impacted the counties west of I-79 as well, but the mid level drying eventually shifted east shortly after midnight on the 17th as heavier snowfall developed back over the western PA counties. The snow continued into Monday afternoon before dissipating in the lower elevations. Some topographic enhancement led to prolonged snowfall in the higher elevations of Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia into Monday evening.

On July 16th, a weak positively-tilted trough tracked from the Mississippi River Valley towards the Great Lakes today, while a surface front slowly sagged south from Lake Erie. Diurnal heating in an air mass with rich moisture plus increasing jet support yielded numerous thunderstorms, mainly favoring eastern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. Differential heating on the southern fringe of a thicker cloud deck and residual convective outflows provided the catalyst for development. Many reports of tree and power line damage were received.

A shortwave trough axis lifted quickly across the Great Lakes and the Upper Ohio Valley on November 15th, taking on a negative tilt as it did so. Deepening surface low pressure tracked across Michigan and into Ontario during the day, whipping a cold front across the region during the late morning and early afternoon. Some of the classic ingredients for a widespread wind event were present, including a negatively- tilted trough, jet positioning over the region, and a favorable Great Lakes surface low track. Strong post-frontal 3 hour pressure rises of 5-7 mb were observed, and a low-topped mostly lightning-free convective line accompanied the boundary. Widespread wind gusts of at least 45-55 MPH were observed, with several higher measured gusts seen. Along the convective line, gusts of 55-65 MPH likely occurred. This resulted in widespread reports of wind damage to trees and power lines, with a few instances of mostly minor structural damage. Unfortunately, two deaths occurred on Clendening Lake when two persons were boating at the time the convective line arrived.

Warm, moist advection during the morning and early afternoon hours of the 10th led to humid and very warm conditions. Mean-layer CAPE of around 2000 J/kg, highest over eastern Ohio, illustrated the very unstable conditions. A few discrete thunderstorm cells were able to form over southwest PA initially, with a few hail and wind damage reports. However, the bulk of the severe weather was the result of the passage of a negatively-tilted upper trough and a strong cold front, which crossed during the late afternoon and evening hours. Bulk shear of 40 to 50 knots and the cold front allowed for the development of a quasi-linear convective system, resulting in widespread reports of wind damage. Gusts of 70-80 MPH were estimated in some cases, leading to numerous reports of damage to trees and power lines, as well as mostly minor structural damage to roofing and shingles. Mesovortices in the QLCS also led to the development and confirmation of three tornadoes in the NWS Pittsburgh forecast area. The strongest was in Beaver County PA, with EF-2 damage observed.

Strong low pressure lifted from the central Plains on the morning of the 23rd into the western Great Lakes by the 24th. A cold front then rushed across the region during the late morning/early afternoon hours of the 24th. Some rain showers accompanied the front, but the main story was the prolonged period of damaging wind gusts that followed the frontal passage. A very tight pressure gradient, 3 hour pressure rises on the order of 7-8 mb/hr, and deep mixing of up to 700 mb allowed for the efficient downward transport of strong wind aloft. The result was an extended period of 40-60 MPH wind gusts across the region. Several reports of peak gusts of 60 MPH or greater were received.||The highest recorded gust was 74 MPH at a mesonet sensor east of Canaan Heights in Tucker County, WV. A number of peak wind gusts in excess of 60 MPH were observed as well. There were widespread reports of downed trees, power lines, and structural damage across the entire region, with some examples noted in the county entries. Thankfully, no injuries were reported from wind effects.||Power outages were widespread as well. An early estimate indicated over 200,000 outages in the state of Ohio. Full restoration took multiple days due to the extent of damage and the initially unsafe working conditions due to the ongoing wind.

Upper shortwave crossed the Ohio Valley late in the evening and overnight on the 26th. This helped develop showers and thunderstorms in an axis of instability, but weak shear supported mainly marginal strong to severe storms. Damage over eastern Ohio was mainly downed trees and power lines.

A tight pressure gradient with a powerful cold front produced wind gusts over 45 MPH in locations across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia the evening of December 24th. Highest reported winds in Pennsylvania were 56 MPH in Du Bois, 55 MPH in Pittsburgh, 54 MPH at Latrobe, and 45 MPH near Mcmurray in Washington county. Highest winds in Ohio were 55 MPH at Zanesville, 52 MPH in Coshocton, and 45 MPH in Hanoverton in Columbiana county. Winds gusted to 55 MPH in Wheeling, WV.

A line of showers and isolated thunderstorms developed along a cold front across Ohio the evening of October 31st. This line moved east during the overnight hours of November 1st and was able to mix strong winds aloft down to the surface. Severe thunderstorm wind damage was reported across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia. At one time nearly 50 thousand homes were without power across the region due to downed trees and power lines.

An anomalously strong ridge centered across the Southeast brought record heat to the Upper Ohio Valley with the area in a zonal flow on the northern edge of the ridge. A weak frontal boundary extended from northern Indiana into western Pennsylvania. Abundant moisture (1.75-2.00 PWAT), strong instability (SBCAPE 4000-5000 J/kg), moderate shear (40kts 0-6km), and a short wave just south of the boundary provided the ingredients for a long-tracked mesoscale convective system, classified by the Storm Prediction Center as a derecho, to track all the way from northern Indiana across eastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania, northern WV, and western Maryland. As the MCS crossed the area, widespread wind damage was reported across areas primarily south and west of Pittsburgh. There were several reports of structural damage and damage led to a fatality when a barn collapsed in Muskingum county. Power outages were widespread with up to 130,000 outages reported immediately after the storms passage, most of which, were in Ohio. Muskingum and Guernsey counties sustained $712,000 and $500,000 in damages respectively. This also became on of the the costliest disasters to hit Ohio, right behind Hurricane Ike in 2008.

High winds occurred behind a powerful cold front in a strong pressure gradient from low pressure moving across the Great Lakes. Trees and power lines were reported down across parts of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The highest recorded wind gust was 59 MPH at the Zanesville, OH airport.

A broken squall line ahead of a cold front moved across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia during the afternoon producing multiple reports of straight line wind damge. At one point more than 50 thousand homes were without power due to power lines being down across the region.

A mesoscale convective system moved along a boundary situated over east central Ohio, southern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Severe thunderstorms across eastern Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and Garrett county Maryland produced widespread wind damage with 50 thousand homes left without power. The counties that were hardest hit were Belmont and Jefferson counties in Ohio, where numerous large trees blocked roadways and three large radio station towers collapsed.

A powerful cold front moved across the Ohio Valley on the evening of the 11th as strong low pressure moved north across the Great Lakes. A convective line along the cold front produced widespread damage across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and Garrett county Maryland with thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 to 70 MPH and a peak wind gust of 92 MPH at Allegheny County Airport near Pittsburgh. High winds gusting over 60 MPH behind the front in a strong pressure gradient produced wind damage across the entire region into midday on the 12th. In all across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and Garrett county Maryland over one half million homes and businesses were without power at some point during the storm.

Low pressure from the remains of Hurricane Ike moved across central Ohio to Lake Erie on the evening of September 14th and produced very strong winds into the early morning of September 15th across eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. Widespread damage to trees and power lines was reported across the region with power outages and damage to some structures from falling trees. Power was not restored to some rural areas for one week after the storm. At the peak of the storm more than 2 million homes were without power. For a period of about 8 hours, sustained winds during the storm were from 30 to 50 MPH, with gusts well over 60 MPH. The highest reported wind gust was 81 MPH at the Beaver County Pennsylvania Airport, near the Ohio Pennsylvania state line. Total damage from the storm across eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia was around 25 million dollars.

A large area of low pressure over the Great Lakes pushed a strong cold front across the region during the morning of January 30th. The strong pressure gradient along and behind the front produced wind gusts near 60 MPH in many locations across western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, and Garrett county Maryland. This produced numerous reports of trees and power lines down across the region.

A strong cold front produced widespread wind damage and power outages from downed wires across southeast Ohio and northern West Virginia.

A deepening area of low pressure moving eastward across the northern Great Lakes swept a strong cold front across east central Ohio during the late afternoon hours of the 9th. This intensifying low produced a large area of strong low-level winds, both ahead of and behind the cold front. Winds between 70 - 80 MPH were present just a few thousand feet off the surface across the area by the mid-afternoon hours. As showers formed during the day, these strong winds were occasionally brought down to the surface. To further complicate matters, by the late afternoon hours enough instability was present to produce a line of severe thunderstorms along the main cold front as it entered east central Ohio. This combination of strong gradient winds and severe thunderstorm winds produced widespread damage across the area, mostly in the form of downed trees and power lines. These high winds continued after the cold frontal passage, downing trees and power lines, until the early morning hours of the 10th. At that time, the surface low moved off into Quebec and the strong gradient winds finally diminished. It is estimated that around 15,000 people were left without electricity in east central Ohio in the wake of this wind event.

High winds associated with a deep area of low pressure passing over the region downed numerous trees and power lines across east central Ohio.

An intense area of low pressure passing over the region brought a prolonged period of high winds to east central Ohio. Wind gusts estimated to around 60 MPH continued from late morning into the early evening hours, downing numerous trees, large limbs and power lines across the entire area.