Straight-line winds estimated at 90 to 100 mph tore through a corridor along Hospital Drive in Dublin on Aug. 11. The storm capped a month that shattered weather records across central Ohio.
Columbus recorded 9.94 inches of rain in August, the second-highest total since records began in 1878, according to a month-end recap by NBC4 meteorologist Ben Gelber. Only August 2003, at 11.46 inches, was wetter. The monthly average is 3.74 inches.
Ohio's preliminary tornado count for August reached 19, breaking the previous record of 18 set in 2023. The statewide total for 2026 stands at 44, roughly twice the annual average of about 22.
Aug. 11: Derecho sweeps through Dublin
The worst single day was Aug. 11, when an afternoon thunderstorm complex that formed over Iowa met the criteria for a derecho, carrying damaging winds of at least 58 mph across more than 400 miles. Fourteen tornadoes touched down across Ohio that day.
In Dublin, the damage came not from tornadoes but from a "bowing" squall line that drove wind corridors from Hospital Drive and Hayden Run Road in northwestern Franklin County through Hilliard and Upper Arlington. Uprooted trees landed on cars and homes, and windows were blown out.
The National Weather Service (NWS) Wilmington office confirmed in a late-August storm survey that the most widespread damage was observed in Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Dublin and Reynoldsburg. The agency attributed most of it to straight-line winds of 60 to 80 mph, with isolated gusts reaching 90 to 100 mph.
Peak gusts hit 82 mph at John Glenn Columbus International Airport and 70 mph at The Ohio State University Airport in northwest Columbus.
By Aug. 12, AEP Ohio reported more than 84,000 customers without power statewide, with 63,000 of those outages in Franklin County. Crews faced hundreds of downed lines and 98 downed utility poles.
Silent sirens
Franklin County's nearly 200 outdoor tornado sirens stayed silent during the Aug. 11 storm. No tornado warning was issued. NWS radar did not detect rotation at the time.
Jeff Young, director of the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, told 10TV on Aug. 12 that the sirens activate only when NWS issues a tornado warning. "We need to continue to spread the message that severe thunderstorm warnings and straight-line winds can carry the same punch," Young said at the time.
Flooding rounds out the month
A second round of storms hit Aug. 19–20, when slow-moving thunderstorms dropped 2 to 4 inches on already-saturated ground across the region. The 3.87-inch storm total at John Glenn airport set a new record for 24-hour August rainfall, breaking a mark that had stood since 1915. More than a dozen swift-water rescues were reported across central Ohio, and portions of the Village of Buckeye Lake were evacuated the evening of Aug. 20.
Measurable rain fell on 15 of 17 days from Aug. 7 through Aug. 23. During the week of Aug. 14–20, Columbus recorded 6.30 inches, the wettest seven-day stretch since late August 2003.
