Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 1996
F2 tornado, Danielsville, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1996
This F2 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Northampton County on November 8, 1996, touching down at 3:38 PM EST and reaching 67 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $250,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- F2
- Date
- November 8, 1996
- Touchdown
- 3:38 PM EST (20:38 UTC)
- Path length
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
- Path width
- 67 yards (61 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $250,000
- County
- Northampton County
- Touchdown point
- 40.800, -75.530
- Lift-off point
- 40.800, -75.530
- Record number
- 1086
What the Weather Service recorded
A tornado touched down in northwestern Northampton County near Danielsville at about 340 pm EST. It remained on the ground for about two miles and lifted prior to moving over the Blue Mountain Ridge which is the dividing line between Northampton and Monroe Counties. One person was injured and two families were made homeless after their homes were destroyed. About a dozen homes were damaged, two were destroyed, three vehicles were damaged or destroyed and significant roof damage occcurred to the Salem United Methodist Church. Damage estimates were around $250,000. The tornado was rated an F2 (or strong tornado with wind estimates between 113 and 157 mph) on the Fujita Scale. Lehigh Township was declared an emergency area.The tornado touched down near the Blue Mountain Road just south of Pennsylvania State Route 946. One of the first buildings in its path was the Salem United Methodist Church which lost part of its roof and a vehicle near the church was destroyed. It proceeded eastnortheast through Danielsville. An elderly woman was injured when the tornado struck the mobile home she was in and pushed it off its foundation. Another unoccupied 70 foot by 14 foot mobile home was tossed into a ditch 50 feet away. The roof of another house was found 100 feet downwind. A playhouse and a metal school bus shelter were deposited in the trees. Numerous trees were either snapped or damaged, but the majority of damage to other homes along the periphery of the tornado's path was limited to windows and chimneys. Prior to the tornado's touch down, the same parent thunderstorm did produce some damaging winds in Treichlers along Long Lane Road.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:10 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PHI |
Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.
The forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 UTC.
SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.
The surface observations
Allentown-Bethlehem (ABE), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:51 UTC | 70 | 65 | 160° 19 kt | 26 | 1002.4 | -RA |
| 19:36 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 170° 16 kt | 23 | 1001.7 | -RA |
| 19:51 UTC | 71 | 65 | 170° 17 kt | 27 | 1001.7 | |
| 20:44 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 200° 24 kt | 34 | 1001 | TS |
| 20:51 UTC | 60 | 57 | 290° 17 kt | 34 | 1003 | -TSRA |
| 21:03 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 270° 7 kt | 22 | 1004.1 | +TSRA |
| 21:11 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 5 kt | 1003 | +TSRA | |
| 21:22 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 350° 7 kt | 1002.7 | +TSRA | |
| 21:35 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 150° 5 kt | 1002.4 | -RA | |
| 21:51 UTC | 57 | 56 | 250° 11 kt | 17 | 1003.7 | -RA BR |
| 22:00 UTC | 57 | 56 | 250° 11 kt | 17 | 1003.7 | -RA FZFG +TSRA |
| 22:05 UTC | 55.4 | 55.4 | 320° 4 kt | 1002.7 | +TSRA | |
| 22:20 UTC | 55.4 | 55.4 | 360° 4 kt | 1001.7 | +TSRA SHRA | |
| 22:29 UTC | 55.4 | 55.4 | 270° 8 kt | 1002 | +TSRA | |
| 22:37 UTC | 55.4 | 55.4 | 4 kt | 1002 | +TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:38 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1996 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 8, 1996
14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 8 | 5:35 AM EST | F2 | Dodge, GA | 4.0 | 50 | 1 | 6 | $200,000 |
| November 8 | 6:00 AM EST | F1 | Laurens, GA | 4.0 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| November 8 | 8:30 AM EST | F1 | Bedford, PA | 15.0 | 150 | 1 | $500,000 | |
| November 8 | 9:45 AM EST | F0 | Centre, PA | 4.0 | 550 | $100,000 | ||
| November 8 | 9:45 AM EST | F1 | Mifflin, PA | 1.0 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| November 8 | 10:15 AM EST | F1 | Clinton, PA | 3.0 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| November 8 | 10:20 AM EST | F1 | Lycoming, PA | 1.0 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| November 8 | 10:20 AM EST | F1 | Lycoming, PA | 2.5 | 500 | $100,000 | ||
| November 8 | 11:15 AM EST | F0 | Charlton, GA | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| November 8 | 12:35 PM EST | F0 | Chenango, NY | 1.2 | 200 | $70,000 | ||
| November 8 | 12:55 PM EST | F0 | Pinellas, FL | 0.1 | 10 | $10,000 | ||
| November 8 | 3:45 PM EST | F1 | Baltimore, MD | 3.8 | 100 | 1 | $750,000 | |
| November 8 | 3:50 PM EST | F1 | Monroe, PA | 10.0 | 67 | $400,000 | ||
| November 8 | 7:25 PM EST | F0 | Bladen, NC | 0.1 | 15 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.