Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2018
EF1 tornado, Loretto, Pennsylvania, June 13, 2018
This EF1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Cambria County on June 13, 2018, touching down at 8:44 PM EDT and reaching 150 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- June 13, 2018
- Touchdown
- 8:44 PM EDT (00:44 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:45 PM EDT (00:45 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Cambria County
- Touchdown point
- 40.509, -78.604
- Lift-off point
- 40.506, -78.596
- Record number
- 1806131844-01
The damage survey
11 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 93 mph.
- Several trees and limbs snapped in different directions.
- Several trees down in a narrow swath. Damage direction is convergent.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
The National Weather Service in State College PA confirmed an EF1 tornado near Gallitzin in Cambria County, Pennsylvania on 06/13/2018. The tornado paralleled Syberton Road as it traveled east southeast and resulted in numerous snapped and uprooted trees along its path. The path length was approximately half-a-mile, with a maximum path width of 150 yards and a maximum wind speed of 90 mph.
The National Weather Service in State College PA has confirmed an EF1 tornado near Gallitzin in Cambria County Pennsylvania on 06/13/2018. The path length was approximately half-a-mile, with a path width of 150 yards and a maximum wind speed of 90 mph. The tornado paralleled Syberton Road as it traveled east southeast and resulted in numerous snapped and uprooted trees along its path.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
16 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:00 UTC and running to 02:14 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23:00 UTC | 02:14 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | CTP |
| 00:21 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP |
| 00:28 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | CTP |
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 Marginal 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 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.
Pittsburgh, PA (KAGC), 00:00Z
0.7 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. June 14, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2125 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2967 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 834 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 263 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 10.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.6 K/km
Pittsburgh, PA (KAGC), 12:00Z
11.3 hours after it, 127 km from the path. June 14, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -98912 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2103 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -10 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 125 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.2 K/km
The surface observations
Johnstown/Cambria (JST), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:45 UTC | 250° 9 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 22:50 UTC | 250° 10 kt | 17 | 1013.2 | |||
| 22:54 UTC | 74 | 66 | 260° 10 kt | 18 | 1012.9 | |
| 22:55 UTC | 260° 13 kt | 19 | 1012.9 | |||
| 23:00 UTC | 250° 12 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 23:05 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 23:10 UTC | 260° 9 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 23:15 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 23:20 UTC | 250° 13 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:25 UTC | 250° 12 kt | 17 | 1012.5 | |||
| 23:30 UTC | 250° 12 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:35 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:40 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:45 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:50 UTC | 250° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 23:54 UTC | 73 | 66 | 250° 11 kt | 19 | 1012.5 | |
| 23:55 UTC | 260° 13 kt | 19 | 1012.5 | |||
| 00:00 UTC | 260° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 00:05 UTC | 260° 9 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 00:10 UTC | 260° 13 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 00:15 UTC | 250° 9 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 00:20 UTC | 260° 8 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 00:25 UTC | 250° 10 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:30 UTC | 260° 9 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:35 UTC | 250° 9 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:40 UTC | 260° 10 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:45 UTC | 250° 10 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:50 UTC | 250° 8 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 00:54 UTC | 72 | 67 | 240° 10 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 00:55 UTC | 240° 10 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 01:00 UTC | 250° 10 kt | 15 | 1012.9 | -RA | ||
| 01:05 UTC | 240° 10 kt | 1012.9 | -RA | |||
| 01:10 UTC | 260° 9 kt | 1012.9 | -RA | |||
| 01:15 UTC | 270° 12 kt | 17 | 1013.2 | -RA | ||
| 01:20 UTC | 270° 9 kt | 15 | 1013.2 | -RA | ||
| 01:25 UTC | 280° 11 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 01:30 UTC | 280° 12 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 01:35 UTC | 270° 11 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 01:40 UTC | 260° 10 kt | 1013.5 | ||||
| 01:45 UTC | 250° 12 kt | 18 | 1013.5 | |||
| 01:50 UTC | 230° 12 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 01:54 UTC | 71 | 67 | 230° 11 kt | 1013.2 | ||
| 01:55 UTC | 250° 9 kt | 1013.5 | ||||
| 02:00 UTC | 330° 14 kt | 21 | 1013.5 | -RA | ||
| 02:05 UTC | 330° 15 kt | 1013.5 | -RA | |||
| 02:10 UTC | 320° 15 kt | 20 | 1013.5 | |||
| 02:11 UTC | 70 | 62 | 320° 16 kt | 23 | 1013.5 | |
| 02:15 UTC | 310° 14 kt | 1013.5 | ||||
| 02:18 UTC | 69 | 61 | 310° 14 kt | 21 | 1013.9 | |
| 02:20 UTC | 310° 12 kt | 1013.9 | ||||
| 02:25 UTC | 320° 13 kt | 1013.9 | ||||
| 02:30 UTC | 17 kt | 1013.9 | ||||
| 02:35 UTC | 310° 15 kt | 1013.9 | ||||
| 02:40 UTC | 300° 12 kt | 1014.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ene Greenwich | Cambria, PA | ONE TREE DOWN NEAR GREENWICH ROAD |
| 00:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nw Reillys | Cambria, PA | TREES AND WIRES DOWN |
| 00:44 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ene Loretto | Cambria, PA | SEVERAL TREES DOWN OR SNAPPED ALONG SYBERTON ROAD EAST OF LORETTO. |
| 00:44 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Nw Gallitzin | Cambria, PA | EF-1 TORNADO CONFIRMED BY NWS STORM SURVEY. |
| 00:47 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nw Dysertown | Cambria, PA | ONE DOZEN LARGE TREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 22 NEAR THE ROUTE 53 EXIT |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 13, 2018
4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.