Tornado, Chester
- When
- November 2, 12:15 PM EST
- Where
- Chester County, 1 mi NE of West Chester
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 39.980, -75.600
Tornado in Pennsylvania, November 2, 1997
m. EST.
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
- $25,000
- 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 PHI wrote it up.
An F0 (on the Fujita Scale) tornado briefly touched down on Fairview Drive within West Goshen Township in Chester County at 1215 p.m. EST. Its path length was less than one-tenth of a mile and its path width was about 50 yards. Nevertheless, the tornado uprooted several trees on the block and split several other tree trunks. It also turned a mint condition antique car on its side and the shed it was stored in was lifted and tossed about 30 feet. The snow thrower, riding lawn mower and other equipment within the shed littered the back yard. No injuries were reported.
The radar
The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:15 UTC.
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
- Tornado in Florida, November 2, 1997
- Strong Wind in New York, November 2, 1997
- Hurricane in Guam, November 2, 1997
- High Wind in Nebraska, November 2, 1997
- High Wind in South Dakota, November 2, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Florida, November 2, 1997
- High Wind in South Dakota, November 2, 1997
- High Wind in North Dakota, November 2 to 3, 1997
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, November 2, 1997
- Strong Wind in Maryland, November 2, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Virginia, November 2, 1997
- High Wind in Iowa, November 2, 1997
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Pennsylvania, 1997Warnings in Pennsylvania, November 1997
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5626150.