The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh has confirmed a brief tornado touched down in Tuscarawas County during Sunday’s severe thunderstorms.
Preliminary information from the weather service indicates that the tornado was an EF-0 with winds of 72 mph or less. The tornado destroyed a 103-year-old barn near New Point church on SR-39.
Additional storm damage was also reported in Gnadenhutten where several trees were uprooted and some homes sustained damage. The weather service said that damage there was caused by straight-line wind gusts of around 70 mph. The weather service team made its determination based on radar data and by the way tree damage was spread. Straight-line wind gusts can be just as damaging as a weak tornado, according to the National Weather Service.
Severe weather Sunday evening also caused tree damage and power outages in several other communities around the county.
The National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for portions of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties at 5:49 PM EDT on Sunday. The warning expired at 6:15 PM EDT.
