1902 Elmore, Ohio tornado

The first known tornado to strike Elmore, Ohio...a town fought to be protected from tornadoes occurred on August 14, 1902 when a small and local tornado outbreak caused 5 tornadoes...the strongest was a T9/F4 which directly struck downtown Elmore, this tornado would be followed up in 2 years by the 1904 Elmore, Ohio tornado...which was a extremely destructive T10/F5 tornado...

Meteorological Synopsis
the National Weather Center (the predecessor to the National Weather Service) had issued a threat for isolated thunderstorm development across Northwestern Ohio...they noted that tornadoes were not completely out of the question, some time around 2110 UTC a funnel cloud was spotted near Toledo, the Funnel Cloud touched down around 2115 UTC and spawned a weak T0/F0 tornado, a larger, but still small tornado was reported again by the public at 2150 UTC about 15 miles southwest of Elmore...the tornado quickly grew to a quarter of a mile wide while inflicting F3 damage, the tornado first showed signs of T8/F4 damage at about 2225 UTC...the tornado reached half a mile wide when it showed T9 damage about 2 miles southwest of Elmore, the tornado directly hit Elmore as a large wedge tornado at 2240 UTC...around 2255 UTC the tornado started to weaken down to a F3 over Eastern Elmore, the tornado finally lifted at 2320 UTC...the National Weather Center originally rated the tornado a T7/F3 on September 3, 1902...then upped it to a T11/F5 on January 23, 1903...but downgraded it back to a T9/F4 on February 14, 1903...