EF1 tornado, Chandlers Vly to Russell Scandia Arpt, Pennsylvania, May 28, 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

May 28, 2013

Touchdown

9:58 PM EDT (01:58 UTC)

Lifted

10:06 PM EDT (02:06 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

4.2 miles (6.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2,000

County

Warren County

Touchdown point

41.912, -79.087

Lift-off point

41.939, -79.013

Record number

1305281958-01

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CTP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 83 mph.

• Outbuilding containg horse rotated off foundation into the direction of the tornado.

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

Isolated supercells shifted east of the Lake Erie region and produced two tornadoes in Warren County during the late evening. Both tornadoes occurred in the northern half of the county and were relatively small/short-lived and weak. The first (EF0) tornado was embedded within a larger area of straight-line thunderstorm wind damage, while the second, more significant (EF1) tornado had a longer track and caused more damage. Official NWS storm surveys were conducted in conjunction with Warren County Emergency Management.

A survey team comprised of NWS meteorologists and Warren County Emergency Management officials determined a weak EF0 tornado occurred during the late evening of May 28th. The tornado first touched down in northwest Brokenstraw township on Murray Hill Road. The tornado touched down and lifted several times...finally lifting just east of Brown Hill Road in Sugar Grove Township. The estimated maximum winds were 80 mph along the sporadic path. The EF0 tornado moved northeast along a 2 3/4 mile path for about 4 minutes. The tornado was embedded within a larger area of straight-line winds. A total of about 400 trees were knocked down or uprooted. Four homes and a church sustained minor structural damage. Two outbuildings also sustained significant damage. There were no injuries or fatalities.

A survey team comprised of NWS meteorologists and Warren County Emergency Management officials determined a EF1 tornado occurred in Pine Grove and Elk Townships. The estimated peak winds were 100 mph. The EF1 tornado first touched down on the west-side of Cole Hill Road about 3 miles southeast of Russell and skipped east-northeast along a 4-mile path with intermittent touchdowns. The tornado finally lifted near Macks Corners. Most of the damage was confined to a large swath of trees with about 500 either uprooted or sheared-off. Two homes also sustained minor damage.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:55 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

Jamestown (Awos) (JHW), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:59 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

24 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.