Name: Tornado in Pennsylvania, August 16, 2001
Start: 2001-08-16T18:35
End: 2001-08-16T18:40
Location: Pennsylvania

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 1:50 PM EST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 1:50 PM EST, 4 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
250 PM EDT THU AUG 16 2001

A CLUSTER OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS FORMING THIS AFTERNOON IN THE
WARM SECTOR OVER SW PA IS NOW MOVING INTO THE WESTERN COUNTIES.
SOME GUSTY WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE STORMS...KAGC REPORTED A GUST
TO 36 KTS AS THEY PASSED AT 1646Z.  WITH LOW/MID LEVEL WINDS
BEGINNING TO INCREASE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...WILL HAVE TO MONITOR
CLOSELY FOR SIGNS OF STRENGTHENING...BUT FOR NOW WILL HANDLE WITH
NOWCASTS.

SHORT TERM MODELS REMAINED CONSISTENT WITH NEW RUNS...ALTHOUGH EACH
JUST A BIT STRONGER WITH THE APPROACHING TROUGH.  MAIN DYNAMICS MOVE
ACROSS CENTRAL PA THIS EVENING AND EARLY MORNING...THEN THE DRY SLOT
ENCROACHES LATE TONIGHT INTO FRI MARKING THE BACK EDGE OF PRECIP.
BEFORE THAT HAPPENS THE REGION WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH SHOWERS/
THUNDERSTORMS IN MOST PLACES TONIGHT.  WITH STRONG 850/500MB
CORRELATED JETS...THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG WINDS MIXING DOWN TO THE
SURFACE WILL CONTINUE MAINLY THIS EVENING FOR THE WESTERN HALF OF
THE CWA.  WILL MENTION THIS IN THE ZONES.

BY SUNRISE...PRECIP SHOULD BE OVER FOR THE WEST...WHILE A CHANCE
WILL CONTINUE MAINLY THROUGH THE MORNING IN THE EAST.  SPC CONTINUES
A SLIGHT RISK JUST EAST OF THE CWA TOMORROW...AND BELIEVE THIS LOOKS
PRETTY GOOD AS PRECIP WILL MOVE EAST BEFORE THE BEST HEATING KICKS
IN.

IN THE EXTENDED...NEXT BATCH OF MOISTURE ARRIVES AHEAD OF A TROUGH
CURRENTLY DROPPING INTO THE UPPER PLAINS.  THIS WILL BRING A CHANCE
OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS SAT NIGHT THROUGH SUN NIGHT BEFORE LIFTING
BACK TO THE NORTH.  AFTER THAT...A RUN OF DRY DAYS AND SEASONAL
WEATHER.

.CTP...NONE.

RXR

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:25 PM EST, 1 hour 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
625 PM EDT THU AUG 16 2001

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0405 PM    8 SW COUDERSPORT          PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/01   POTTER                         6 TO 8 TREES DOWN...REPORTED
                                          BY COUNTY EMA

0432 PM    2 WEST RENOVO             PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/01   CLINTON                        TREES BLOWN DOWN ALONG ROUTE
                                          120...REPORTED BY COUNTY EMA

0518 PM    LOCK HAVEN                PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/01   CLINTON                        POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN IN
                                          TOWN...REPORTED BY COUNTY EMA

LAMBERT

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Clearfield

When: August 16, 6:35 PM EST to 6:40 PM EST
Where: Clearfield County, 2 mi SE of Luthersburg
Rating: F1
Path length: 3.5 mi
Path width: 30 yd
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.033, -78.700

A Small Tornado occurred in northwest Clearfield County. The path length of the tornado was approximately 3.5 miles long, and about 20 to 30 yards wide. The tornado began about 2 miles southeast of Luthersburg and continued northeast to about one half mile north of Anderson Station in Bloom Township. Intermittent touchdowns were reported along this path.

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

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Pennsylvania, 2001 Warnings in Pennsylvania, August 2001

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: 5260231.