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Bowing Cluster of Thunderstorms Crosses Ohio, Pennsylvania

May 14, 2010; 11:31 AM ET

If the Pennsylvania Storm Chasers were paying attention to the radar early this morning, they might have wondered what this bizarre-looking storm was:

I thought that the "thing" that crossed Cleveland and went north of me this morning might be a Mesoscale Convective Vortex but the SPC said in an Mesoscale Discussion statement that it was just a bowing cluster of storms. Early on as it was forming, it had large hail to the west of Cleveland; after that. It caused considerable tree damage as it crossed over into Pennsylvania. Here is a map of NWS Spotter Reports:

The most impressive came out of Trumbull County, Ohio and read: "18 MILE PATH OF DAMAGE FROM HOWLAND CENTER THROUGH VIENNA...BROOKFIELD AND WARREN CITY. ROOF DAMAGE...TREES DOWN ON HOMES AND ROADS." Trees were also downed in my namesake Farrell, PA in Mercer County. There was a wind gust of 65 mph estimated in Akron Ohio and radar velocity data showed winds between 36 and 50 knots after the storm passed Cleveland (shown below). It also showed winds above 64 knots as it moved over Youngstown, Ohio (but by then the radar beam was over 5,000 feet in the air).

The Youngstown airport did record a 52-mph gust. You can look at the data yourself by downloading loops from the Cleveland Radar's Base Velocity and Storm-Relative Velocity (which showed less overall wind but some rotation).

It passed just to the north of me in State College, Pennsylvania, home of AccuWeather HQ [Google Map] this morning, only leaving a few large raindrops. What's left of the storm is passing through New York City right now (11 AM) -- I presume with little fanfare. Below is a radar animation during the peak of the storm.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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