F1 tornado, Woolrich to Mc Elhattan, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1997

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   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.

4. 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.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. 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.

7. 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.

Rating

F1

Date

July 18, 1997

Touchdown

4:35 PM EDT (20:35 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Clinton County

Touchdown point

41.200, -77.380

Lift-off point

41.170, -77.370

Record number

468

41/12/07N, 77/24/14W to 41/10N, 77/22W. An F1 tornado touched down about 1 mile west of Woolrich on Friday, July 18th. The storm moved southeast along a 3-1/2 mile path crossing Crestmont into McElhattan. At the initial touchdown, just west of Woolrich, most of a roof was blown off a home. A nursery barn and a greenhouse were partially destroyed at Hillcrest Farms just west of Crestmont. Twelve homes were listed as having some damage related to winds or fallen trees and one barn was completely destroyed. Thousands of trees were downed by a combination of tornadic and downburst winds that extended southeast across the Susquehanna River into McElhattan and Pine Station. Hail also damaged some of the corn crop in the area.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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.

Williamsport (IPT), 38 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The State College radar (KCCX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:36 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.