EF1 tornado, Gray to Kantner, Pennsylvania, May 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 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 13, 2018

Touchdown

5:55 PM EDT (21:55 UTC)

Lifted

5:56 PM EDT (21:56 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Somerset County

Touchdown point

40.116, -78.922

Lift-off point

40.115, -78.917

Record number

1805131555-01

16 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 105 mph.

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

An EF1 tornado was confirmed in Gray, Somerset County, by a NWS storm survey. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 90 mph, with a path length of one-half to three-quarters of a mile and a maximum path width of 100 yards.

An EF1 tornado was confirmed near Kantner in Somerset County by a NWS storm survey. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 100-110 mph, with a path length of one-quarter of a mile and a maximum path width of 100 yards.

The tornado started northwest of the intersection of Beam Church Rd|and Wigstrom Rd where several trees fell and a house sustained minor|siding damage. The tornado crossed Beam Church Rd and continued east|southeast into Gray. Several buildings sustained roof or siding|damage from downed trees. Many trees were completely uprooted|because of saturated soil with standing water underneath the root|ball. The tornado crossed W 3rd street where it flipped a car port|and moved a trailer about 6 feet. A large patch of shingles was|tossed over a house and landed on a car windshield.||Further east, several healthy trees were snapped 10-30 feet off the|ground consistent with winds of up to 90 mph. Healthy pines fell in|a convergent pattern perpendicular to storm motion. This pattern is|consistent with a tornado. The tornado appears to have lifted right|before a stream in the block bordered by W 3rd Street, E 1st Street,|Main St and Center St.

A tornado started just east of Whistler Rd along Koontztown Rd in|Juniata township. Along Koontztown Rd, dozens of trees were uprooted|or snapped 20-30 feet off the ground, indicating winds of 100-110|MPH. The trees fell in a convergent pattern indicating a tornado|occurred. The majority of concentrated damage occurred in a rural area west of|Center St.

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

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 20:29 UTC and running to 23:49 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 State College radar (KCCX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:54 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

2 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.