F0 tornado, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1997

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

   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

F0

Date

July 18, 1997

Touchdown

4:45 PM EDT (20:45 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Union County

Touchdown point

40.950, -76.880

Lift-off point

40.950, -76.880

Record number

469

41/03/46N, 77/08/05W to 41/02/52N, 77/07/33W. An F0 tornado touched down in a remote part of the northwest corner of Union County, 3 NE of Carrol to 4E of Carrol. The storm moved southeast taking down a number of trees along Zimmerman Rd.

40/57/53N, 76/53/31W to 40/57/43N, 76/51/14W. An F0 tornado touched down and crossed Route 15 just a mile north of Lewisburg in Union County. The storm moved southeast across the Susquehanna River crossing Route 45 before lifting a mile south of East Lewisburg in Northumberland County. A number of trees were blown down along the path. A branch from a tree was blown and embedded into the side of a mobile home. Law enforcement officials in Montandon reported sighting a funnel cloud to the west that was obscured by trees.Part of a roof was blown off a house and trees were damaged on the west side of Lewisburg from downburst winds related to the storm.

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.

The State College radar (KCCX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:47 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.