Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2019

EF0 tornado, Dushore, Pennsylvania, May 29, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Sullivan County on May 29, 2019, touching down at 3:20 PM EDT and reaching 50 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
May 29, 2019
Touchdown
3:20 PM EDT (19:20 UTC)
Lifted
3:22 PM EDT (19:22 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sullivan County
Touchdown point
41.535, -76.370
Lift-off point
41.537, -76.362
Record number
1905291320-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An EF0 tornado touched down near Dushore in Sullivan County on the afternoon of May 29, 2019. The tornado produced maximum winds estimated near 75 mph along a path that was just under 1/2 of a mile long, and a maximum path width of approximately 50 yards.

A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed an EF0 tornado near Dushore in Sullivan County Pennsylvania on May 29, 2019.||Significant tree damage was observed south of Route 87 and Dutch Mountain Road and north of the Little Loyalsock Creek.

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:19 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:18 UTC and running to 20:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:18 UTC20:00 UTCTornado WatchCTP
19:16 UTC20:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
19:19 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningCTP
19:40 UTC20:04 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:35 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 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.

Albany, NY (KALY), 12:00Z

7.3 hours before the tornado, 245 km from the path. May 29, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 2019-05-29Temperature 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 -89821, lifted condensation level 613 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 2019-05-29The 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 -41 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 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
-89821 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
613 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
1.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Albany, NY (KALY), 00:00Z

4.7 hours after it, 245 km from the path. May 30, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 00:00Z on 2019-05-30Temperature 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 -80079, lifted condensation level 881 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, Albany, NY at 00:00Z on 2019-05-30The 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 136 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
-80079 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
881 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
181 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:17 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
18:30 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDShickshinnyLuzerne, PAREPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD IN SHICKSHINNY AREA
18:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGExeterLuzerne, PALARGE TREE DOWN ON VEHICLE.
18:42 UTCTSTM WND DMGSlocumLuzerne, PATREES AND WIRES DOWN NEAR MUD POND
18:44 UTCTSTM WND DMGNanticokeLuzerne, PAWIRES DOWN IN ROADWAY WITH POLE SNAPPED.
18:54 UTCHAIL 0.75MoosicLackawanna, PA
19:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 E Feys GroveLuzerne, PATREES AND WIRES DOWN NEAR 326 BLUE RIDGE TRAIL
19:20 UTCTORNADO2 E DushoreSullivan, PAEF-0 WITH MAX WINDS OF 75 MPH. PATH LENGTH OF 0.2 MILES AND PATH WIDTH OF 50 YARDS.
19:23 UTCTSTM WND DMGBloomsburgColumbia, PATREES AND WIRES DOWN ON W 1ST ST.
19:35 UTCDOWNBURST 701 Sse ForkstonWyoming, PASEVERAL UPROOTED AND SNAPPED TREES ON WINDY VALLEY RD. DOWNED TREES DAMAGED FENCE AND BLEACHERS AT CREEK JUNCTION PARK.
19:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw BarboursLycoming, PASEVERAL TREES DOWNED OR SNAPPED.
19:43 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Se MuncyLycoming, PAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN IN MUNCY CREEK TWP. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
19:45 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.61DushoreSullivan, PA1.61 INCH OF RAIN IN 20 MINUTES.
20:42 UTCFLOODTaylorLackawanna, PAMULTIPLE REPORTS OF FLOODED BASEMENTS
21:15 UTCFLASH FLOODWilkes-BarreLuzerne, PATRAFFIC DIVERTED DUE TO WATER OVER ROADWAY ON MAIN STREET.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 29, 2019

40 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 298:44 AM CDTEF1Scott, MO1.075$50,000
May 292:07 PM EDTEF0Tioga, PA1.150$25,000
May 291:19 PM CDTEF0Tarrant, TX3.9200$5,000
May 291:22 PM CDTEF0Denton, TX3.7250$1,000
May 291:31 PM CDTEF1Tarrant, TX0.5300$100,000
May 293:14 PM EDTEF0Lehigh, PA2.350
May 292:58 PM CDTEF0Rockwall, TX3.125$1,000
May 293:07 PM CDTEF0Van Zandt, TX3.0100$5,000
May 294:14 PM EDTEF1Perry, PA4.9300$40,000
May 293:17 PM CDTUnratedVan Zandt, TX0.250
May 294:24 PM EDTEF1Dauphin, PA2.5350$20,000
May 294:24 PM EDTEF1Fulton, PA0.750$35,000
May 293:36 PM CDTEF0Wood, TX3.4100$1,000
May 294:00 PM CDTUnratedSac, IA1.230
May 294:11 PM CDTUnratedSac, IA0.720
May 294:21 PM CDTEF0McCurtain, OK1.175
May 294:24 PM CDTEF2Kaufman, TX4.02151$1.0 million
May 294:28 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.220
May 294:30 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.220
May 294:35 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.320
May 294:49 PM CDTUnratedPocahontas, IA0.240
May 294:50 PM CDTEF0Macon, IL0.520
May 294:50 PM CDTEF2Wood, TX9.1850$300,000
May 294:51 PM CDTEF2Van Zandt, TX7.2700$500,000
May 295:08 PM CDTEF1Van Zandt, TX2.3140$250,000
May 295:16 PM CDTEF0Randolph, AR0.675$40,000
May 295:18 PM CDTEF1Van Zandt, TX3.8250$1,000
May 295:31 PM CDTEF0Fannin, TX10.8300$25,000
May 296:21 PM CDTUnratedHumboldt, IA0.530
May 296:23 PM CDTEF0Iowa, IA0.120
May 297:01 PM CDTEF1Poweshiek, IA3.5501$10,000
May 297:28 PM CDTUnratedPoweshiek, IA0.930
May 297:37 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.130
May 297:39 PM CDTUnratedPoweshiek, IA0.930
May 297:46 PM CDTEF0Iowa, IA3.320
May 298:13 PM CDTEF0Johnson, IA0.320
May 298:15 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.230
May 298:29 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA0.640$30,000
May 298:31 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.350$10,000
May 298:54 PM CDTUnratedHardin, IA0.720

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.