F1 tornado, Duhring to Highland Corners, Pennsylvania, August 19, 2001

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

August 19, 2001

Touchdown

3:55 PM EDT (19:55 UTC)

Path length

5.0 miles (8.0 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

Counties

Forest and Elk counties

Touchdown point

41.500, -79.020

Lift-off point

41.570, -78.870

Record number

400

An F1 tornado touched down just southwest of the town of Duhring. The tornado continued moving along a sporadic path to the northeast, exiting Forest County approximately 2 miles northeast of Duhring.As the tornado passed near Duhring it reached its maximum path width of nearly 300 yards. Winds estimated at 90 MPH downed around 250 trees. Several of these trees fell on cabins, homes and vehicles.

A NWS storm survey team confirmed an F1 tornado touched down in Elk County. The tornado first touched down in Forest County, then crossed into Elk County. Damage was sporadic, with the initial touchdown in Elk county near the town of Highland. Sporadic damage between the towns of Highland and Nassen included 25 trees which were knocked down, and several more tree tops that were snapped off. The path length of the tornado in Elk county was about 5 miles (the entire tornado path length including Forest and Elk counties was 10 miles). The width was 100 yards. Nickle size hail was also reported between Highland and Nassen. No injuries or fatalities occurred.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS PBZ issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:39 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:59 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 radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.