Strong winds caused downed trees and power outages throughout Highland County between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 14.

“We had a pretty large-scale what we call mesoscale convective systems, and those are kind of like a larger scale line of thunderstorms, …” Chris Hogue, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, said. “It wasn’t associated with a cold front. Basically, it just has lots and lots of momentum, and it’s got cold air behind it, and it’s pushing through very hot and humid air, and get strong straight-line winds out of it.”

He said the scale of the damage made the storm different than other weather situations.

“I think you probably have quite a bit of downed trees, lots of tree debris, branches and things like that that are down in Highland County,” said Hogue.

Hogue said a large line of storms went from northern Ohio south all the way through Highland County and then curved west toward Cincinnati and into Indiana. He said it pushed through during the “maximum heating time” of the day, which was an “unfortunate recipe” for strong winds.

Hogue said the storm was entirely wind.

“If any hail fell, it wasn’t reported to us, and it would have been pretty small based on the situation yesterday, and, of course, no funnel clouds or tornadoes occurred,” he said. “These are all expected ingredients you would see with the type of storms we had yesterday.”

Hogue also said the storm illustrates the importance of being aware of the weather.

“It’s important that folks get ahold of this information to adjust their plans as needed so they are not in harm’s way for the strong winds when they occur,” he said.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.