The Daily Standard
Story Archive
A small barn located at 7589 Wabash Road lies destroyed after a tornado touched down on March 14, 2024.
CELINA - One year ago today, a pair of EF1 tornadoes packing winds up to 110 mph tore through Mercer County, one of which continued a trail of destruction well into Auglaize County, according to the National Weather Service.
Less than two months later, another pair of tornadoes would hit the area, causing massive structural damage.
The local twisters were spawned during the spring 2024 tornado season, one of the most active on record in the United States, and are now documented in a comprehensive online overview authored by NASA's Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis team.
Severe thunderstorms that spring alone accounted for nearly $42 billion in damage across the U.S., with four tornado outbreaks each inflicting more than $1 billion in damage, according to "The Hyperactive Spring 2024 Tornado Season."
Designed specifically for non-scientists, the interactive website tells the story of this historic period through written narrative, graphs, maps, images and video, which together amount to an immersive experience. The multimedia chronicle also spotlights a handful of tornadoes, including those that struck the area, utilizing multiple datasets to visualize their impact on communities.
Leading the effort was Andrew Blackford, a 25-year-old NASA researcher and doctoral student at the University of Alabama. Blackford grew up in Sidney and moved with his family to Maria Stein when he was 16.
"The goal of this is to do a high-level highlight of what we call the hyperactive spring season, because it was one of the most active spring seasons on record in terms of tornadoes, especially in like Ohio. We had a record number of tornadoes last year, going back through at least 1950 in the record," Blackford told The Daily Standard.
Blackford said 907 tornadoes were confirmed in the U.S. from March to May 2024, most of them in the Midwest and Plains.
At play during this time were teleconnections, climate patterns that reappear in cycles, Bradford explained.
"We just had those teleconnections of different types line up perfectly for the spring, and that kind of put in place the conditions necessary for severe weather, and we just had really active jet springs during the spring that was able to bring in these systems - and those systems were able to favorably use those conditions to break through weather and then ultimately the tornadoes," he said.
Ohio tied its previous annual record of 62 tornadoes by early June 2024 before blowing past it later that year, eventually notching 74.
On March 14, 2024, 11 tornadoes "carved paths of destruction" across eastern Indiana and western and central Ohio, resulting in 4 fatalities and 68 injuries. Two tornadoes rated as intense EF3s were responsible for all of the fatalities, according to the NASA study.
Two supercell thunderstorms that formed in central Indiana and moved eastward were responsible for most of the tornadoes, the study found.
"The first, located further north, produced five tornadoes during its more than 120-mile path from Adams County, Indiana, to Licking County, Ohio," the study reads. "The second storm, situated further south, produced two tornadoes along its more than 75-mile path from Delaware County, Indiana, to Miami County, Ohio. In addition, two other cyclic thunderstorms produced a combined three tornadoes in northern Ohio from this event."
An EF3 tornado hit Auglaize and Logan counties, killing three and injuring 27. From 7:29 p.m. to 8:16 p.m., the tornado was on the ground for nearly 32 miles and produced wind speeds up to 155 mph.
"The tornado began south of Wapakoneta, causing initial damage to a farm near Cemetery Road, then quickly strengthened west of Glacier Hill Lakes RV Resort, severely damaging trees and lofting campers, heavily damaging residential homes and the resort clubhouse along Wapak-Freyburg Road," the study reads.
The tornado moved southeast into Logan County, causing extensive damage in Lakeview, before crossing the southern portion of Indian Lake and destroying numerous manufactured homes on Orchard Island.
"The EF-3 tornado that struck the Indian Lake area caused widespread damage to over 1,500 properties and businesses, with a total of 239 homes destroyed. NASA's Black Marble Night Lights satellite dataset shows the impact the tornado had on Indian Lake's power grid, where the majority of the island lost access to power for days," the study found.
The first significant tornado of the day in Ohio - an EF2 - formed west of Coldwater.
"This large, wedge-shaped tornado caused major tree damage along the Wabash River, destroying barns and outbuildings in Mercer County before it weakened and lifted near Coldwater," the study reads. "Shortly after, another EF-2 tornado touched down north of Chickasaw, damaging fields, tearing up two farm properties, and causing roof and wall damage."
Over in Darke County, an EF1 tornado moved into Greenville, causing minor damage to homes and trees.
The tornado reached peak intensity when it moved into the Greenville City Park, destroying trees and damaging the nearby high school's football stadium before weakening and lifting north of Gettysburg, the study states.
Overall, the March-May period saw the second-highest tornado count in the U.S. since 1950, with only the historic 2011 season surpassing it.
"There were so many records that happened from this event, so we're trying to do a high level (study)," Blackford said. "We go into specific big events such as the March tornadoes at Indiana Lake and south of Wapak, or the May tornadoes like near New Bremen, for example. We highlighted on those specifically, and they're a little bigger. And then from there, we're going to be doing more peer-reviewed research (focusing) in on the really scientific side of it."
The study is the brainchild of Blackford, who served as both lead researcher and author.
"I did pitch the idea because living in Mercer County, growing up in Shelby County, those tornadoes in March and May were really close to home for me, and so I figured it'd be good to build from there and then see if we can make a story off of it," he said. "And then it kind of grew into just doing the whole tornado season as a whole for the United States."
This is the first time NASA's VEDA team has applied their collective expertise to tornadoes.
"They liked the way that we could visualize the data in several different ways. I believe this is the first story that we utilized every single aspect of the current capabilities of data visualization that we have built out," Blackford said. "It ended up being a long one, but my supervisors really enjoyed how we could kind of pull all these data fusion aspects … whether it be NASA or like commercial satellites or National Weather Service, for example, and pulling all that into something that's digestible and easy to follow."
The study can be viewed at earthdata.nasa.gov/dashboard/stories/2024-tornadoes.
