In January 1971, temperatures in the Buckeye State were running six degrees below normal, while precipitation over the entire state was 75 per cent or less of normal. The main weather news of the month, however, was wind. Two severe windstorms occurred near the end of the month as deep low pressure areas moved north of the Great Lakes.
The first and most severe windstorm developed in Ohio on the 26th of January, 1971 as a strong low pressure area which eventually reached a pressure of 28.32 inches on the 27th, moved over and north of the Great Lakes. High wind warnings and cold wave warnings were out for all of Ohio on the 26th. Traveler's warnings were out for all of northern Ohio during the afternoon and evening due to blowing and drifting snow.
Ahead of this strong storm, Ohioans basked in 40 degree temperatures, but the mercury began a rapid decline well before dawn and kept falling through the 10s during the day. Peak winds hit 98 mph on a freighter off Ashtabula on the 26th. The anemometer atop the Illuminating Company building in Cleveland recorded an 80 mph gust and Burke Lakefront Airport registered a gust of 73 mph.
Near Ashtabula (Ashtabula County) a beach house was taken off it's foundation and blown onto a road. Panes of glass were blown out of the East Ohio Gas Company building in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County). A building under construction in Columbus (Franklin County) was blown down, resulting in $75,000 damage. At Toledo (Lucas County), a wind-borne garbage can lid smashed through the wind- shield of a car. Thousands of buildings were damaged, numerous trees were felled and many utility lines were downed across the state.
Snowfall from this system ranged mostly between 1 and 3 inches in northern Ohio, but up to a foot of snow fell in the extreme northeastern sections. Blizzard to near blizzard conditions existed in many areas, however, due to the strong winds. Near Lima (Allen County) the wind and snow combined to cause a chain reaction accident of 17 cars and trucks,
resulting in 13 injuries. Snow drifts up to 15 feet high in Ashtabula County caused 71 people to seek shelter for the night in one school building.
The second major windstorm of January, 1971 came on the 29th-30th of the month as a second powerful low moved north of the Great Lakes. Pressure is this low eventually fell to 28.88 inches. Temperatures prior to midnight of the 30th once again rose into the 40s, but were in the 10s by morning. Highest winds in this storm came mostly before midnight of the 30th and hit 69 mph at the Akron-Canton Airport in Summit County. At the OARDC in Wooster (Wayne County), winds were clocked at 55 mph. Most damage done by this second storm occurred in the northern third of the state. Roofs were torn from various buildings in Wayne County, trailers were damaged or destroyed in various locales as the strong winds lifted and then dropped them, and trees and utility lines were again downed.
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