Name: Tornado in Pennsylvania, September 17, 2004
Start: 2004-09-17T16:30
End: 2004-09-17T16:32
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: 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 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 Sep 17, 2:40 PM EST, 1 hour 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 17, 2:40 PM EST, 1 hour 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
340 PM EDT FRI SEP 17 2004

.AVIATION...

WIDESPREAD IFR TO LIFR CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR THROUGH TONIGHT. DEEP
DRYING PUSHING IN FROM THE NORTH DURING THE LATE MORNING HOURS
SATURDAY WILL LEAD TO QUICK IMPROVEMENT TO MVFR...THEN VFR
CONDITIONS BETWEEN 11Z AND 15Z.

&&

.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT)...

STEADY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO FILL IN ACROSS SERN CWA AND AREA OF
HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO OVERSPREAD THE CWA FROM NW TO SE INTO
THE EVENING HOURS. SIG RAIN SHOULD CUT OFF BY SUNRISE ACROSS MOST OF
CWA. BEST CHANCE OF LINGERING SHOWERS SAT MORNING WILL BE ACROSS
EASTERN SECTIONS. EXPECT SWATCH OF 1-3 INCHES AND LOCALLY UP TO 5+
INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA.

GOOD DEAL OF DRY AIR PROGGED TO MOVE IN DURING THE DAY SAT AND CONT
INTO MONDAY.

&&

.LONG TERM (TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY)...

A LARGE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL ENCOMPASS THE NE US AND MID
ATLANTIC STATES DURING THE EARLY TO MID WEEK PERIOD. QPF IS NIL IN
THE WEB BASED GRIDS MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. A WEAK COLD
FRONT WILL BRING THE CHANCE FOR A FEW SHOWERS LATER THURSDAY THROUGH
FRIDAY.

&&

.CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PA...FLOOD WATCH FOR ZONES PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-
     033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053-056>059-063>066 THROUGH SATURDAY.
&&

AVIATION/LONG TERM...LAMBERT
SHORT TERM...GARTNER

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 17, 3:58 AM EST, 12 hours 32 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
458 AM EDT FRI SEP 17 2004

PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053-
056>059-063>066-180850-
ADAMS PA-BEDFORD PA-BLAIR PA-CAMBRIA PA-CAMERON PA-CLEARFIELD PA-
COLUMBIA PA-CUMBERLAND PA-DAUPHIN PA-ELK PA-FRANKLIN PA-FULTON PA-
HUNTINGDON PA-JUNIATA PA-LANCASTER PA-LEBANON PA-MCKEAN PA-
MIFFLIN PA-MONTOUR PA-NORTHERN CENTRE PA-NORTHERN CLINTON PA-
NORTHERN LYCOMING PA-NORTHUMBERLAND PA-PERRY PA-POTTER PA-
SCHUYLKILL PA-SNYDER PA-SOMERSET PA-SOUTHERN CENTRE PA-
SOUTHERN CLINTON PA-SOUTHERN LYCOMING PA-SULLIVAN PA-TIOGA PA-
UNION PA-WARREN PA-YORK PA-
458 AM EDT FRI SEP 17 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY:

HEAVY RAIN FROM THE REMNANTS OF HURRICANE IVAN WILL OVERSPREAD
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA TODAY AND TONIGHT. SEVERAL INCHES OF RAIN ARE
EXPECTED OVER MUCH OF THE REGION...RESULTING IN WIDESPREAD
FLOODING...INCLUDING ALONG THE MAJOR RIVERS. AT THIS POINT THE
HEAVIEST RAIN...WITH LOCALIZED TOTALS AROUND 6 INCHES...APPEARS MOST
LIKELY OVER THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE STATE...ROUGHLY ALONG THE I-80
CORRIDOR.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY:

RAIN WILL LIKELY TAPER OFF EARLY SATURDAY. HOWEVER...FLOODING MAY
CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND INTO SUNDAY.

SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Fulton

When: September 17, 4:30 PM EST to 4:32 PM EST
Where: Fulton County, 17 mi SW of Mc Connellsburg
Rating: F1
Path length: 0.5 mi
Path width: 40 yd
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 39.767, -78.233

A survey team from the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Fulton County Pennsylvania from the storms of September 17 2004. The tornado occurred 3.5 miles east of McKees Gap along route 731 (McKees Gap Road). Wind speeds were estimated to be around 75 mph.The tornado touched about one quarter mile south of McKees Gap Road downing several trees, damaging the roof of a house, damaging part of a barn and leveling a tractor barn. The tornado also flattened tall grass and corn. The tornado traveled toward the north-northwest for about half a mile. It toppled and uprooted trees as it crossed McKees Gap Road before lifting up. The width of the tornado was about 30 to 40 yards and damage could be followed for about half a mile.The tornado touched down at approximately 530 pm EDT and was on the ground for about 1 to 2 minutes. The tornado was a weak F1 tornado on the Fujita scale. There were no injuries or deaths.

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 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Pennsylvania, 2004 Warnings in Pennsylvania, September 2004

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: 5423539.