Tornado in Pennsylvania, June 1, 1998

A tornado ripped through Upper and Lower Moreland Townships as well as extreme northeast Philadelphia during the early morning of June 1st. The tornado was rated as an F1 (A weak tornado on the Fujita Scale) in Montgomery County and intensified into an F2 (or strong tornado on the Fujita Scale) within Philadelphia. The worst damage occurred within the unoccupied Byberry Industrial Park as the tornado reached its strongest intensity. Thirty-five commercial buildings were damaged, nine severely. Damage outside of the industrial park was mainly confined to downed trees. About ten homes were damaged by fallen trees. The damage within Philadelphia was discontinuous suggesting the tornado was not on the ground for its entire lifetime across the city. Damage was estimated at $1.8 million dollars. Because the buildings were unoccupied, no injuries occurred.The tornado moved into the city from Lower Moreland Township in the Bustleton/Lumar Park area around 120 a.m. EDT. Trees were split and knocked down. The tornado intensified into a strong one (F2 on the Fujita Scale) as it crossed into the Byberry Industrial Park. The worst damage was done in the area around Byberry Road, McNulty Road, Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road. Five ton air conditioning units were tossed. Of the 35 commercial buildings damaged, nine were severely damaged and declared "imminently dangerous". Slabs of the roof were tossed 200 yards. Some buildings lost entire sides, had buckled steel beams, shattered windows and crushed equipment. The tornado plucked utility poles from the ground. About 20 poles were knocked over. Five teams of tree service personnel were overwhelmed. Damage south of the industrial park became sporadic as the tornado turned toward the southeast. It lifted just before the Bucks County border near Woodhaven Road just to the southeast of the Franklin Mills Mall. Its path length was about 5.6 miles and path width about 200 yards. PECO Energy reported 34,000 customers in Philadelphia lost power. Five thousand still did not have power the evening of the 1st. It was the worst non-winter storm in PECO Energy's 50 year history and the fourth worst overall. According to their lightning detection system, there were 7,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes in their service area as this line of thunderstorms moved through.