Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2014
EF0 tornado, Harveyville, Pennsylvania, July 8, 2014
This EF0 tornado ran 0.9 miles across Luzerne County on July 8, 2014, touching down at 7:00 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF0
- Date
- July 8, 2014
- Touchdown
- 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- County
- Luzerne County
- Touchdown point
- 41.230, -76.230
- Lift-off point
- 41.230, -76.230
- Record number
- 1407081700-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong upper level system moving across the region led to the development of numerous severe thunderstorms across northeast Pennsylvania during the afternoon and evening hours of July 8th. With a tremendous favorable atmospheric wind pattern present, severe thunderstorms resulted in widespread wind damage along with several tornadoes.
An EF0 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 70 MPH was confirmed near this location. The tornado touched down in a rural area along State Route 4041 in Fairmount Township. The tornado destroyed a storage shed, a nearby garden and numerous trees along this road before moving through a wooded area and striking a dairy farm on Ridge Road. A roof was torn off of a barn and a grain silo was shifted off its foundation. The tornado crossed over corn and hay fields before lifting above a narrow valley.
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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:07 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:07 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | BGM |
| 22:45 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BGM |
| 23:40 UTC | 00:24 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BGM |
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 19:36 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
11.0 hours before the tornado, 196 km from the path. July 8, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 132 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -176 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 604 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1646 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 77 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 123 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
The radar
The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:00 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lincoln Falls | Sullivan, PA | TREES DOWN AND BLOCKING ROADS IN FOX AND ELKLAND TWPS. |
| 22:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Millview | Sullivan, PA | TREES AND WIRES DOWN. A PORTION OF ROUTE 87 IS CLOSED. |
| 22:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Dushore | Sullivan, PA | EF2 TORNADO WITH MAX WINDS 120 MPH...PATH WIDTH 400 YDS AND PATH LENGTH OF JUST OVER 2 MILES BEFORE ENTERING BRADFORD COUNTY. NUMEROUS TREES KNOCKED DOWN WITH BARN ROOF DEBRIS THROWN OVER 100 YDS. A TRAILER WAS THROWN 30 |
| 22:19 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Wnw Dushore | Sullivan, PA | TREES DOWN AND STRUCTURES DAMAGED. |
| 22:20 UTC | TORNADO | New Albany | Bradford, PA | EF1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS OF 100 MPH...A PATH WIDTH OF 500 YARDS AND A PATH LENGTH OF 4.5 MILES. NUMEROUS TREES KNOCKED DOWN WITH A BARN COLLAPSE AND A TRAILER BLOWN OFF ITS FOUNDATION AND TURNED 90 DEGREES ON |
| 22:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Meshoppen | Wyoming, PA | MANY TREES AND WIRES DOWN. ROADS BLOCKED. |
| 22:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Auburn Center | Susquehanna, PA | BARN AND GARAGE DESTROYED... MANY DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 22:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Asbury | Columbia, PA | TREES DOWN ACROSS ROADS. |
| 23:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Huntington Mills | Luzerne, PA | MANY TREES DOWN... POWER OUT. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME. VIA WNEP-TV FACEBOOK. |
| 23:00 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Huntington Mills | Luzerne, PA | AN EF-0 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS OF 70 MPH WAS CONFIRMED NEAR THIS LOCATION. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN A RURAL AREA ALONG STATE ROUTE 4041 IN FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP. THE TORNADO DESTROYED A STORAGE SHED...GARDEN AN |
| 23:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Falls | Wyoming, PA | MANY TREES DOWN BLOCKING ROADS. |
| 23:18 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Dallas | Luzerne, PA | MANY TREES DOWN... SOME ON HOUSES AND CARS. POSSIBLE ENTRAPMENTS. SEVERAL ROADS BLOCKED. ALSO IN LEHMAN TOWNSHIP. |
| 23:30 UTC | DOWNBURST 70 | 2 Sw Upper Exeter | Luzerne, PA | DOWNBURST WINDS AFFECTED APPROXIMATELY A 2 MILE LONG...AND 1 MILE WIDE PATH OVER PORTIONS OF EXETER AND FRANKLIN TOWNSHIPS. SCATTERED TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED AT SEVERAL RESIDENCES...A CEMETARY AND DENSELY WOODED AREAS. ONE |
| 23:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sw Upper Exeter | Luzerne, PA | DOWNBURST WINDS AFFECTED APPROXIMATELY A 2 MILE LONG...AND 1 MILE WIDE PATH OVER PORTIONS OF EXETER AND FRANKLIN TOWNSHIPS. SCATTERED TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED AT SEVERAL RESIDENCES...A CEMETARY AND DENSELY WOODED AREAS. ON L |
| 23:35 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Moosic | Lackawanna, PA | PEAK GUST FROM WNEP-TV STUDIO. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME. |
| 23:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Scranton | Lackawanna, PA | TREE ON WIRES... LEANING ON HOUSE. OTHER TREES AND WIRES DOWN IN AREA. |
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mantzville | Schuylkill, PA | TREES AND WIRES DOWN. |
| 00:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Meshoppen | Wyoming, PA | MANY TREES AND WIRES DOWN. ROADS BLOCKED. |
| 01:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Falls | Wyoming, PA | MANY TREES DOWN BLOCKING ROADS. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 8, 2014
13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 8 | 1:33 PM EDT | EF1 | Medina, OH | 8.3 | 200 | $78,000 | ||
| July 8 | 1:43 PM EDT | EF1 | Medina, OH | 1.6 | 200 | $20,000 | ||
| July 8 | 2:15 PM EDT | EF1 | Mahoning, OH | 5.4 | 200 | $225,000 | ||
| July 8 | 2:48 PM EDT | EF1 | Mercer, PA | 2.5 | 150 | $75,000 | ||
| July 8 | 3:25 PM EDT | EF1 | Monongalia, WV | 2.0 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| July 8 | 3:55 PM EDT | EF1 | Taylor, WV | 4.4 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| July 8 | 6:15 PM EDT | EF2 | Sullivan, PA | 6.7 | 500 | $105,000 | ||
| July 8 | 6:33 PM EDT | EF1 | Oneida, NY | 1.0 | 600 | $30,000 | ||
| July 8 | 6:48 PM EDT | EF1 | Lewis, NY | 12.3 | 300 | $250,000 | ||
| July 8 | 7:02 PM EDT | EF2 | Madison, NY | 2.5 | 235 | 4 | $600,000 | |
| July 8 | 7:05 PM EDT | EF1 | Susquehanna, PA | 1.4 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| July 8 | 7:25 PM EDT | EF1 | Oneida, NY | 1.3 | 65 | $110,000 | ||
| July 8 | 8:40 PM EDT | EF0 | Warren, NY | 1.1 | 100 |
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.