Columbus and Central Ohio Weather

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A line of severe thunderstorms swept across Columbus and central Ohio on Monday afternoon, leading to downed trees, thousands without power, and, in one area, turned-over mobile homes.

Tornado warnings came as school districts across the region were dismissing students, with multiple districts pausing or diverting buses so people could take shelter at the nearest school.

The National Weather Service has not yet confirmed any tornados touched down Monday.

In Orient, Ohio, the damage from the storms was severe, with winds causing a mobile home to flip onto its side while another was turned onto its roof, damaging a neighboring residence at the Foxlair Farms park.

Also in Pickaway County, a roof was torn off a garage and several tin roofs were seen scattered about the area where the storms hit hardest.

“It sounded like a major train, and then I heard this one blowing over and it sounded like a house blowing over and it sounded like, ‘Kaboom!,” said Foxlair Farms resident Jerrol Cox.

Cox lived in the mobile home park for the last eight years.

“From the time I heard the alert to it actually hitting — 30 seconds,” he said. “Everything inside of my house just went to the back of the house,” adding that his house slid five feet due to the storms.

It was an all-too-familiar feeling for George Estep, who has lived in his home for more than 30 years. His garage was damaged by the storm, among other things.

“All this stuff was here,” he said, pointing out debris strewn about his property. “I mean, I don’t even know where it came from. Just a freaking nightmare.”

Pickaway County Sheriff Matthew Hafey said there are no reports of any serious injuries.

“I never dreamed anything like this could happen to me,” Estep said. “I mean, you see it on TV, but…”

During the course of the afternoon, the National Weather Service issued tornado watches for Franklin and these counties: Delaware, Fairfield, Hocking, Madison, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Union, and Logan counties. Additionally, Noble, Guernsey, Coshocton, Muskingum, Morgan, Perry, Jackson and Athens counties were under a tornado watch that expired at 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, showers will wrap up through the morning and clouds will start to break up through the afternoon. Temperatures will stay seasonally mild and reach around 50 degrees.

Wednesday, another system will move toward the area. Initially, this will kick in a southerly breeze which will boost high temperatures to 65-70 degrees, which is about 20 degrees warmer than normal and puts us on track to set a new record. The current record high for March 1 in Columbus is 65 degrees set in 1997.

Thursday, we’ll see another break from the rain. We’ll stay mild and under a partly sunny sky as highs climb to the lower 50s. This will be ahead of another significant system which will bring in rain and breezy conditions Thursday night into Friday.