Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2013

EF1 tornado, Linden Hall, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2013

This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Centre County on June 27, 2013, touching down at 4:05 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 27, 2013
Touchdown
4:05 PM EDT (20:05 UTC)
Lifted
4:07 PM EDT (20:07 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Centre County
Touchdown point
40.781, -77.740
Lift-off point
40.793, -77.752
Record number
1306271405-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A MCV and broader mid-level trough crossed the central Appalachians and triggered strong to severe thunderstorms from the central ridges into the Susquehanna River Valley during the afternoon and evening. Very high boundary layer moisture and humidity contributed to heavy rainfall/flash flooding and precipitation loading within consolidating convection. While the deep layer flow and shear were somewhat modest, ambient vertical vorticity just ahead of the MCV and low LCLs aided in the development of two weak, short-lived (EF1) tornadoes in Centre and Perry Counties. Deep moisture (PWAT) values around two inches along with relatively slow, south-to-north training cells and bands produced significant flash flooding, particularly in DuBois and Beech Creek which sustained extensive flood damages due localized 4-6+ inch rainfall amounts. Both towns were declared a State of Emergency. The Bald Eagle Creek at Beech Creek Station surged nearly 8 feet in 4 hours and crested just below major flood stage. The creek officially crested at 13.75 feet which was the sixth highest crest on record. An 86-year old man was swept away and killed by the rising flood waters in Beech Creek.

An EF1 tornado was confirmed just east of Boalsburg on Nittany Farm between US 322 (General Potter Highway) and Route 45 (Earlystown Road). The maximum wind speed was 100 mph. Eyewitnesses said the tornado pulled a small tree in a holding pond about 50 feet in the air. Visible damages included sporadic trees snapped/knocked down and metal roofing off of several outbuildings and corn crib. The last observed damage was near Cedar Run road or about 1 mile to the northwest from the initial touchdown. There were no injuries or deaths.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:45 UTC01:15 UTCFlash Flood WatchCTP
19:55 UTC22:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryCTP
20:20 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
20:42 UTC23:45 UTCFlood WarningCTP
21:01 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
21:17 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
21:40 UTC06:45 UTCFlood WarningCTP
21:50 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningCTP
22:09 UTC01:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningCTP
23:15 UTC05:15 UTCFlood WarningCTP
23:43 UTC02:45 UTCFlood WarningCTP
00:08 UTC03:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryCTP

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 air that afternoon

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.

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), 12:00Z

8.1 hours before the tornado, 203 km from the path. June 27, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 2013-06-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 290 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 714 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 2013-06-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
290 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
994 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
714 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:04 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:20 UTCTORNADO5 Sw BlainPerry, PA
18:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGBlainPerry, PATREES AND WIRES DOWN
20:05 UTCTORNADO2 Se Linden HallCentre, PA*** 280 INJ ***
20:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E BoalsburgCentre, PATREES REPORTED DOWN JUST OFF OF ROUTE 45.
20:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ene PetersburgHuntingdon, PATREES DOWN OVER ROADS
20:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGPine Grove MillsCentre, PATREES DOWN ON PINE GROVE MTN.
20:50 UTCFLOODPine Grove MillsCentre, PAFLOODING REPORTED ON ROUTE 45.
20:50 UTCFLOODState CollegeCentre, PAFLOODING REPORTED ON PARK AVE.
20:55 UTCFLOODState CollegeCentre, PAFLOODING REPORTED ON ATHERTON ST.
21:00 UTCFLOOD2 Nw Whipple Dam StateHuntingdon, PAROADS CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING
21:00 UTCFLOODMcalevys FortHuntingdon, PAROADS CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING
21:00 UTCFLASH FLOODHoney GroveJuniata, PARTE 75 CLOSED NEAR HONEY GROVE FOR TWO HOURS 5PM-7PM
21:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGJacksonvilleCentre, PATREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 26.
21:20 UTCFLOODState CollegeCentre, PAFLOODING REPORTED ALONG A PORTION OF COLLEGE AVE.
21:45 UTCFLOODState CollegeCentre, PAFLOODING ALONG WESTERLY PARKWAY.
21:55 UTCFLOODPine Grove MillsCentre, PASTREAMS REPORTED TO BE OUT OF THEIR BANKS NEAR PINE GROVE MILLS.
22:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 S Beech CreekCentre, PATREES DOWN ALONG I-80.
22:30 UTCFLOODJacksonvilleCentre, PAWATER REPORTED TO BE ACROSS ROADWAYS IN MUCH OF MARION TWP.
22:40 UTCFLOODBeech CreekClinton, PAVEHICLES REPORTED TO BE STRANDED IN WATER ALONG ROUTE 150.
22:45 UTCFLOODHowardCentre, PAPERSONS TRAPPED INSIDE A BUILDING DUE TO HIGH WATER.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 27, 2013

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 272:19 PM EDTEF1Perry, PA3.050$3,000

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.