Ike (2008) and the Windstorm over Ohio

On September 14, 2008 a windstorm associated with the remnants of Hurricane Ike move through the Ohio Valley. The storm produced wind gusts to hurricane force and caused over 230,000 insurance claims, over a billion dollars in insured property damage in Ohio, and the loss of electricity for more than 2.5 million customers. The intensity of the winds was unexpected, since the National Hurricane Center had classified Ike as extratropical when it was north of Little Rock, Arkansas. At that time they maximum sustained winds were only 35 m.p.h. Reports of wind damage began in western Kentucky and southern Indiana and continued in a swath through central Ohio. The most significant damage was clustered in southwestern and central Ohio.

Ike exhibited an anomalous vertical wind structure as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico. Aircraft reconnaissance flights noted much higher winds above the surface that were not being transported down to the surface. Stronger winds aloft were also present in rawinsonde soundings over the Mississippi Valley. The stronger winds at the surface occurred southeast of the track of the surface low. Analysis of satellite imagery and five-minute ASOS surface observations seem to indicate that gravity waves developed as the system moved over the Ohio valley. The thermal structure of the lower troposphere helped the gravity waves transport higher wind speed to the ground and produce the unexpected windstorm. This presentation will present data to support this conclusion.