EF1 tornado, New Germantown, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2013

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

June 27, 2013

Touchdown

2:19 PM EDT (18:19 UTC)

Lifted

2:24 PM EDT (18:24 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.9 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3,000

County

Perry County

Touchdown point

40.264, -77.645

Lift-off point

40.292, -77.602

Record number

1306271219-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CTP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.

• Pear tree knocked over in the middle of the field.
• Barn lost section of roof.
• grass flattened and end of tornado

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

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 in Toboyne Township near Big Spring State Park/Burnt Hill Camp Area with maximum wind speeds between 80 and 90 mph. The tornado touched down one half mile southwest of Goodlane Road just off of Route 274. Large trees were uprooted and fell on a roof of a cabin. Occasional tree damage occurred in the woods along (on the east-side of) Route 274 to the Eby Cemetery. Some trees fell and blocked the road. A metal roof was partially removed from an old barn. A wind circulation was evident in a tall grass field at the end of the 3-mile damage path. All together, about 75 trees were knocked down. There were no injuries or deaths.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:15 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:00 UTC and running to 23:14 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:24 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 State College radar (KCCX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:19 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 2013 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.