On February 14, 1967, a wave of low pressure formed in the central Rocky Mountains along a Pacific-Arctic front. Overhead, the jet stream was nearby. By morning of the 15th, the low pressure area had moved to near Burlington, Iowa with a central pressure of 29.29 inches. The morning of the 16th found it near Burlington, Vermont with its pressure down to 29.05 inches.
A line of thunderstorms formed in Indiana at approximately 9:00 pm of the 15th, and in just two hours they had reached the Cleveland, Akron-Canton, Wooster area. A small tornado was at first believed to have touched down in the community of Waco (Stark County) but inspection proved it to be straight line winds.
The deepening and rapidly moving low pressure area generated very strong winds for quite some time throughout the entire Buckeye State. Winds hit 81 mph and sustained wind speeds of 35-40 mph occurred for almost 9 hours. Damage ran far into the million of dollars. Numerous trees and utility poles and lines were downed by the strong winds, as were television antennas and radio and television towers. The tall TV antenna for the Millersburg (Holmes County) cable system was wrenched from it's base. A 310 foot radio tower in Medina county was blown down and a 153 foot radio antenna at Sidney (Sidney County) succumbed to the wind. A motel roof in Youngstown (Mahoning County) was blown off as was the roof of an apartment building in Akron (Summit County). The roof of a warehouse in Ashtabula (Ashtabula County) was thrown onto used cars below, resulting in considerable damage.
In Cleveland (Cuyahoga County), a man was killed when a 40 foot construction trailer was lifted by the wind and thrown on top of him. Seven house trailers near East Liverpool (Columbiana County) were upset, and there were many reports of tractor-trailers being upended by the high winds.
In Greene County, 37 cattle were killed when the barn they were in, blew down. In Sugarcreek (Tuscarawas County), a wall of one manufacturing plant blew down, causing half of the plant's workers to be laid off. There were many partially completed buildings in Ohio which were damaged to some extent - some of those damages exceeded $100,000. Drive-in-theater screens took a heavy toll as did plate glass windows.
Lightning caused $20,000 damage to a home at Cedar Point (Erie County). A 10 minute hailstorm near Port Clinton (Ottawa County), damaged cars.
A cold wave accompanied the storm's passage. Temperatures in the Columbus (Franklin County) and Dayton (Montgomery County) areas dropped 25 degrees in just two hours. In Cleveland, the thermometer plunged 13 degrees in 15 minutes. By morning of the 16th, temperatures were generally in the 10s -- quite a tumble from the upper 50 and low 60 degree readings of the 15th.</font></font></p>
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