EF2 tornado, Boulevard Manor to Lee Park, Pennsylvania, June 13, 2018

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

June 13, 2018

Touchdown

10:02 PM EDT (02:02 UTC)

Lifted

10:10 PM EDT (02:10 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.7 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

Property damage

$5.0 million

County

Luzerne County

Touchdown point

41.244, -75.847

Lift-off point

41.224, -75.797

Record number

1806132002-01

A strong area of low pressure moved from northern Ontario to the Saint Lawrence Valley from the day of the 13th into the evening. This low pressure system pushed a cold front into northeast Pennsylvania during the evening of the 13th. This front triggered severe thunderstorms which spawned two EF2 tornadoes, one in Bradford County and the other Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The E2 tornados knocked down numerous trees, destroyed several homes and damaged up to 24 businesses. There were no deaths and 6 minor injuries.

A severe thunderstorm moved across Luzerne County between 930 and|1030 pm on Wednesday June 13 2018, producing an EF2 tornado in |Wilkes-Barre Township around 1000 pm. The tornado touched down |at Mundy Street and Highland Park Boulevard near the Wyoming |Valley Mall, then traveled across Interstate 81 and up into the woods|on Wilkes-Barre Mountain. Tornado damage continued on a broken |path through the State Game Lands before dissipating near |Llewelyn Corners and Interstate 476. Numerous roofs were destroyed and |windows blown out throughout the shopping center. Some structures |were sheared off near their foundation. Power poles were snapped |with numerous lines down. Several signs were destroyed, and |debris was scattered throughout the region. One piece of sign was |found approximately 7 miles from the mall area. A total of 23 business were damaged, with some suffering major damage. Maximum estimated winds were at 130 mph.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:54 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 00:12 UTC and running to 03:00 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:35 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 Binghamton radar (KBGM), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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 2018 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.