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.

  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 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)ExpiredProductOffice
23:00 UTC02:14 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchCTP
00:21 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
00:28 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningCTP

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2018-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2125 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 834 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2018-06-14The 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 163 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Pittsburgh, PA (KAGC), 12:00Z

11.3 hours after it, 127 km from the path. June 14, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2018-06-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -98912, lifted condensation level 2103 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2018-06-14The 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 50 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Johnstown/Cambria (JST), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:45 UTC250° 9 kt1013.2
22:50 UTC250° 10 kt171013.2
22:54 UTC7466260° 10 kt181012.9
22:55 UTC260° 13 kt191012.9
23:00 UTC250° 12 kt1012.9
23:05 UTC250° 11 kt1012.9
23:10 UTC260° 9 kt1012.9
23:15 UTC250° 11 kt1012.9
23:20 UTC250° 13 kt1012.5
23:25 UTC250° 12 kt171012.5
23:30 UTC250° 12 kt1012.5
23:35 UTC250° 11 kt1012.5
23:40 UTC250° 11 kt1012.5
23:45 UTC250° 11 kt1012.5
23:50 UTC250° 11 kt1012.5
23:54 UTC7366250° 11 kt191012.5
23:55 UTC260° 13 kt191012.5
00:00 UTC260° 11 kt1012.5
00:05 UTC260° 9 kt1012.5
00:10 UTC260° 13 kt1012.5
00:15 UTC250° 9 kt1012.5
00:20 UTC260° 8 kt1012.5
00:25 UTC250° 10 kt1012.9
00:30 UTC260° 9 kt1012.9
00:35 UTC250° 9 kt1012.9
00:40 UTC260° 10 kt1012.9
00:45 UTC250° 10 kt1012.9
00:50 UTC250° 8 kt1012.9
00:54 UTC7267240° 10 kt1012.9
00:55 UTC240° 10 kt1012.9
01:00 UTC250° 10 kt151012.9-RA
01:05 UTC240° 10 kt1012.9-RA
01:10 UTC260° 9 kt1012.9-RA
01:15 UTC270° 12 kt171013.2-RA
01:20 UTC270° 9 kt151013.2-RA
01:25 UTC280° 11 kt1013.2
01:30 UTC280° 12 kt1013.2
01:35 UTC270° 11 kt1013.2
01:40 UTC260° 10 kt1013.5
01:45 UTC250° 12 kt181013.5
01:50 UTC230° 12 kt1013.2
01:54 UTC7167230° 11 kt1013.2
01:55 UTC250° 9 kt1013.5
02:00 UTC330° 14 kt211013.5-RA
02:05 UTC330° 15 kt1013.5-RA
02:10 UTC320° 15 kt201013.5
02:11 UTC7062320° 16 kt231013.5
02:15 UTC310° 14 kt1013.5
02:18 UTC6961310° 14 kt211013.9
02:20 UTC310° 12 kt1013.9
02:25 UTC320° 13 kt1013.9
02:30 UTC 17 kt1013.9
02:35 UTC310° 15 kt1013.9
02:40 UTC300° 12 kt1014.2

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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
00:02 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene GreenwichCambria, PAONE TREE DOWN NEAR GREENWICH ROAD
00:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw ReillysCambria, PATREES AND WIRES DOWN
00:44 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene LorettoCambria, PASEVERAL TREES DOWN OR SNAPPED ALONG SYBERTON ROAD EAST OF LORETTO.
00:44 UTCTORNADO3 Nw GallitzinCambria, PAEF-1 TORNADO CONFIRMED BY NWS STORM SURVEY.
00:47 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw DysertownCambria, PAONE 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 132:10 PM EDTEF0Palm Beach, FL0.05
June 134:51 PM CDTEF0Prairie, AR1.020$5,000
June 138:16 PM EDTEF2Bradford, PA5.2250$500,000
June 1310:02 PM EDTEF2Luzerne, PA2.91506$5.0 million

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.