Ohio
National Weather Service confirms 3 tornadoes touch down in Ohio. Here’s where they hit
Severe weather batters US from Nebraska to West Virginia
Flooding and tornadoes battered areas ranging from the north-central U.S. to the East Coast.
Strong storms that blew through Ohio on Wednesday night, June 18, cut power to tens of thousands across the state.
They also spawned several tornadoes, the National Weather Service in Cleveland confirmed Thursday, June 19.
Three tornadoes touched down during the severe storms, downing limbs as well as snapping and uprooting trees in three Ohio counties. They also damaged homes and buildings, sending a tree into a house in one instance, shattering windows, destroying barns and silos on farms and tearing roofs off structures, per the NWS.
Where in Ohio did tornadoes hit and how strong were the twisters? Here’s what to know.
Tornadoes touch down in Ottawa, Huron and Lorain Counties
The NWS has confirmed three tornadoes touched down the evening of June 18, in Ottawa, Huron and Lorain Counties in northern Ohio.
The first touched down at 7:43 p.m. near the Village of Elmore in Ottawa County and traveled about half a mile. It was on the ground for a minute, according to NWS surveyors. The tornado damaged a metal outbuilding as well as the roof of a residence. It also destroyed a grain silo and snapped a couple of trees. The twister was rated an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with a maximum wind speed of 80 mph.
The second struck near the Village of Rocky Ridge in Ottawa County at 7:50 p.m. and was on the ground for 2 minutes, traveling 2.94 miles. The tornado sent a tree onto a house along with other tree damage and partially tore the roof off a barn. It also produced other minor roof and facade damage and shattered a window, per NWS surveyors. This tornado was rated an EF0 with a maximum wind speed of 70 mph.
The final tornado hit near the Village of Wakeman in Huron County and traveled 9.36 miles into Lorain County. It sent limbs and branches onto area homes, downed trees and damaged roofs. It also caused the “failure of a roof” on a large barn, per NWS surveyors. It was rated an EF1 with a maximum wind speed of 100 mph.
Ohio tornado total for 2025
These three tornadoes bring Ohio’s total for the year so far to 21. That compares to 62 tornadoes by this time in 2024.
Last year set a new tornado record for the state, 74, becoming the worst year for tornadoes in Ohio since 1992 when the previous record of 62 was set. By June 2024, Ohio had already tied that record, with the record-breaker coming on June 29.
When is tornado season in Ohio?
In Ohio, tornado season peaks between April and June, according to the National Weather Service.
Kristen Cassady, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, said previously that it is typical for severe weather frequency to ramp up in Ohio at the beginning of March. However, March is not a peak tornado season month.
“We typically do see severe weather events including tornadoes in the month of March, even though there is a slightly higher frequency climatologically in April and May,” Cassady said. “March is still one of the primary months for tornadoes in the Ohio Valley.”
How are tornadoes confirmed?
After suspected tornadoes are spotted, crews from the National Weather Service survey possible tornado damage in person.
The pattern of damage, not how much damage was caused, determines whether it was a tornado, according to the weather service. For tornadoes, with their violently rotating columns of air, damage often has a chaotic appearance, with larger uprooted trees often crossing each other. Weather service surveyors often look at larger uproots of trees to get a true idea of where the wind was blowing from.
How are tornadoes rated?
The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
- EF0: Weak, with wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph
- EF1: Weak, 86 to 110 mph
- EF2: Strong, 111 to 135 mph
- EF3: Strong, 136 to 165 mph
- EF4: Violent, 166 to 200 mph
- EF5: Violent, greater than 200 mph
There is also an EF Unknown ranking, “a final caveat that has been added adjacent to the scale in recent years,” the Weather Channel reports. It rates a tornado sighted and documented by storm chasers or the public, but no damage can be found when the area is later surveyed.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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