An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front across northeastern Pennsylvania.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS BGM wrote it up.
An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front across northeastern Pennsylvania. Behind this front, a southerly flow of warm, moist, and unstable air quickly developed. This set the stage for the development of severe weather later that afternoon as a cold front and strong upper air disturbance approached. From late in the afternoon until late that evening, northeastern Pennsylvania was under siege from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadic supercells. In all, nine separate tornadoes touched down on this day. Overall damage estimates run into the millions with many homes and structures heavily damaged or destroyed. The most devastating storms occurred in Pike county. Within about a 3 hour stretch from 7 to 10 pm EDT, four different twisters affected the county. One tornadic cell was responsible for knocking down thousands of healthy large trees in and around Promised Land State Park with several vacation homes damaged or leveled. Fortunately, injuries were kept at a minimum. Widespread straight line wind damage also occurred with hailstones the size of ping pong balls falling in some places. The north side of Scranton had extensive wind damage as a storm passed through shortly before 10 pm EDT and sections of Wayne and Luzerne counties had roads closed and/or blocked from falling trees for more than 2 days after the storm. Pennsylvania Power and Light Company estimated that hundreds of thousands of customers were without power at the height of the storms on the evening of the 31st. Some of the more remote locations did not have power restored for the better part of a week.
The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:28 UTC.
9 tornado, 8 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm briefly reached severe limits across southern portions of the county. Trees and wires were downed in New Albany around 6:25 pm EDT.
A severe thunderstorm intensified and briefly became tornadic over Jackson township in eastern portions of the county around 7:00 pm EDT. Eyewitness reports and damage surveys indicate tree tops were twisted off and a few utility poles were sheared off. The pattern of the damage was chaotic with tree limbs in many directions. The tornado appeared to be near ground level for only a brief time before it lifted back into the cloud base. Fortunately, it touched down away from more populated areas.
Severe thunderstorms downed trees and wires in Old Forge at 7:35 pm EDT.
The tornadic supercell that affected southern Wayne county a bit earlier in the evening continued eastward into Pike county. A tornado touched down briefly in Promised Land and then plowed through portions of Promised Land State Park before temporarily lifting into the cloud base. The twister cut approximately a 2 mile by 500 yard path through heavily forested areas of the park. Camp sites were littered with trees as the tornado cut down hundreds of them. Some of the trees were very sizeable and they were still chopped down or twisted off quite easily as evidenced by ground and aerial post storm surveys. A few homes near the path of the twister sustained minor to moderate damage from falling trees. Fortunately, camp grounds and vacation homes were largely unoccupied when the tornado struck. The tornado appeared to be near ground level for only a few minutes as the damage path became discontinuous again just east of the park.
A severe thunderstorm crossing central portions of the county blew down trees in Montrose at 8:16 pm EDT.
The cell that produced tornadic damage earlier both in southern Wayne county and just upstream in Promised Land State Park dropped a tornado once again across the southern and southeastern portions of Pike county. A nearly continuous 20 mile path was uncovered via aerial storm surveys from Pecks Pond east-southeastward to near route 739 in Delaware township. The average width of the damage path was about 200 yards. The twister descended once again in the Pecks Pond area around 8:20 pm EDT. At that point, the intensity was rated as F2 as the tornado cut down nearly every tree in its path on its way towards Blue Heron Lake. At approximately 8:30 pm, the tornado struck the small vacation community surrounding Blue Heron Lake. A summer home was leveled by the force of the twister. The only things left standing were an interior wall and a few sturdy metal cabinets on the floor in the kitchen. An adjacent mobile home was severely damaged as well. Two campers near this area had minor injuries from falling tree limbs. Otherwise, though, injuries were kept to a minimum as homes were mostly vacant. In addition, an estimated thousands of trees were sheared off or toppled bordering Blue Heron Lake both to the west and east. The twister's intensity increased at this point to F3. Further downstream, the tornado continued to cut a consistent path of twisted off and/or uprooted trees across the Little Mud Pond, Silver Lake, and Deer Leap Factory areas. The tornado appeared to skip across hilltop sections along this route with its intensity mainly in the F1 range. Finally, just before 8:45 pm EDT, the tornado ascended once again in Delaware township as little in the way of damage was evident between route 739 and the Delaware River. In all, emergency management and federal officials estimated that in excess of 1 million dollars damage was incurred along this approximately 20 mile path. Many roads were closed as they became impassable due to fallen trees and wires. Portions of routes 402 and 390 were closed for several days. In addition, sections of Promised Land State Park were closed off to the public for about two weeks until all debris was cleared away and power was restored.
A severe thunderstorm became tornadic just south of Interstate 84 and east of Tarey Hill in Blooming Grove township around 8:20 pm EDT. The tornado cut approximately a 3 mile by 200 yard path paralleling Interstate 84. The twister moved through heavily forested areas and mowed down hundreds of trees in its path. Again, many of the trees were quite sizeable and appeared to be toppled easily. The damage pattern was circular in spots as viewed by aerial surveys. Fortunately, little in the way of houses or populated regions were in the path of this particular tornado. The tornado's intensity seemed to fluctuate between F1 and F2. The tornado lifted back up just east of route 739 near Cranberry Ridge as little in the way of damage was seen downstream of this point. Several local roads were closed for up to 24 hours from fallen trees.
A thunderstorm briefly became tornadic across extreme southern portions of the county. An F0 tornado appeared to touch down for a short time in Jefferson township at about 9:20 pm EDT. The tornado was only on the ground for a minute or two as determined from storm surveys and eyewitness accounts. A small swath of tree damage was evident just west of Half Moon Lake. Tree tops were sheared off in all directions. The damage path was approximately a quarter of a mile by about 30 yards.
A severe thunderstorm dropped an F0 tornado on Old Forge township around 8:20 pm EDT. The tornado only appeared to be near ground level briefly as judged from residents who witnessed the event. A restaurant had its front windows blown out and several trees in the front yard near the parking lot toppled. The twister then skipped down an embankment and downed a few more trees before lifting back into the cloud base. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
A thunderstorm became severe over southern portions of the county. Trees and wires were downed in New Albany around 8:45 pm EDT.
A severe thunderstorm became tornadic across extreme southern portions of the county. Eyewitness reports and post storm surveys indicate that a tornado briefly touched down in Dreher township around 7:50 pm EDT. The tornado appeared to skip over hilltop areas for a minute or two before lifting back into the cloud base. Spurts of tree and power line damage were seen from above. Trees and large limbs were fallen in several directions with the damage pattern rather chaotic. The tornado's intensity was rated as F0 at this point with the damage path about a half mile by 30 yards or so.
A thunderstorm reached severe levels over extreme southern sections of the county late in the evening. Several trees and wires were toppled in Gouldsboro as the storm passed through around 9:00 pm EDT.
A thunderstorm became tornadic over extreme southern portions of the county late in the evening. The cell dropped an F1 tornado on Beaumont township around 9:15 pm EDT. Post storm surveys and eyewitness accounts indicate that the tornado was near ground level only briefly as it skipped over a cemetery site and down an embankment just south of state route 2018. A house sustained minor damage from falling tree limbs near the path of the twister. A metal sign was bent over from the force of the winds and a few large trees were sheared off. The tornado lifted back up before crossing route 309. The distance of its path was about a half mile by 50 yards.
A severe thunderstorm moving across the county produced 1 inch hail in South Canaan at 9:20 pm EDT. Several trailers at a mobile home park had smashed windows and dented siding as a result.
A cluster of severe thunderstorms moving across the county blew down numerous trees and wires in northern sections of Scranton, Waverly, and Taylor between 9:45 and 10:00 pm EDT.
A severe thunderstorm briefly produced a tornado over southwestern portions of the county late in the evening. An F0 tornado touched down over Greentown around 9:50 pm EDT. The twister toppled trees and sheared off some tree tops just east of route 447. The path of the damage was about a quarter of a mile by 30 yards.
A severe thunderstorm moving across the county blew down trees in Waymart at 10:25 pm EDT.
The same severe cell that produced wind damage in the Scranton area earlier in the evening also caused damage in extreme southern Wayne county. Trees and wires were downed in South Canaan township just after 10:45 pm EDT.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Pennsylvania, 1998Warnings in Pennsylvania, May 1998
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: 5649554, 5649555, 5649492, 5649556, 5649493, 5649557, 5649624, 5649625, 5649626, 5649628, 5649623, 5649627, 5649699, 5649551, 5649552, 5649700, 5649553, 5649701.