Tornado, Dauphin
- When
- May 11, 1:55 PM EST to 1:59 PM EST
- Where
- Dauphin County, Harrisburg to 1 mi NE of Harrisburg
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Coordinates
- 40.280, -76.870
Tornado in Pennsylvania, May 11, 1996
An F1 tornado (73 - 112 mph) touched down in the city of Harrisburg demolishing the east side of a truck parts factory along Cameron Street, and peeling the siding off a three story building across the street. A 16 ton railroad caboose was knocked over by the wind.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS CTP wrote it up.
An F1 tornado (73 - 112 mph) touched down in the city of Harrisburg demolishing the east side of a truck parts factory along Cameron Street, and peeling the siding off a three story building across the street. A 16 ton railroad caboose was knocked over by the wind. The tornado then skipped east for 1/2 mile damaging a second building and downing numerous trees. Overall damage extended for about 2 miles with a combination of downburst winds and small tornado.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Virginia, May 11, 1996
- Hail in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
- Flash Flood in Ohio, May 11, 1996
- Flood in Ohio, May 11 to 13, 1996
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 11, 1996
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Pennsylvania, 1996Warnings in Pennsylvania, May 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5570679.