EF1 tornado, Lititz, Pennsylvania, March 29, 2009

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

March 29, 2009

Touchdown

4:42 PM EDT (20:42 UTC)

Lifted

4:45 PM EDT (20:45 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Lancaster County

Touchdown point

40.150, -76.300

Lift-off point

40.157, -76.278

Record number

0903291442-01

An EF1 tornado with peak winds of 85 to 95 mph touched down in northern Lancaster County between Lititz and Ephrata. The tornado produced widespread damage and caused three minor injuries.

An EF1 Tornado with peak winds between 85 and 95 mph touched down near Lititz, and lifted a few minutes later between Lititz and Ephrata. While the tornado path length was 1.25 miles, widespread downburst wind damage associated with the parent thunderstorm continued for an additional eight to nine miles toward the town of Denver. Overall, over 200 structures sustained damage. Significant tornado damage affected eight trailer homes, six of which were totally destroyed. Approximately thirty barns also sustained either moderate or major damage. Three minor injuries were reported as a result of the tornado damage.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:21 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 162 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:41 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

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.