Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2022

EF0 tornado, Hunters Cave, Pennsylvania, August 1, 2022

This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Greene County on August 1, 2022, touching down at 7:35 PM EDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $200,000 of property damage.

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
August 1, 2022
Touchdown
7:35 PM EDT (23:35 UTC)
Lifted
7:41 PM EDT (23:41 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$200,000
Crop damage
$5,000
County
Greene County
Touchdown point
39.921, -80.338
Lift-off point
39.909, -80.321
Record number
2208011735-01

The damage survey

31 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PBZ, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 112 mph.

  • Collapsed shed and some uprooted trees farther down in path. End point for dalla tor?

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

Remnants of a mesoscale convective system created a few supercells in eastern Ohio that advanced into northern West Virginia/western Pennsylvania. Two tornadoes spun up from a single supercell. Despite meager instability, deep-layer wind shear was favorable at near 40 knots, and the storm tracked in a favorable direction to ingest rotating updrafts.

NWS Pittsburgh storm damage team confirmed that a tornado did occur in Greene County on the evening of August 1, 2022. ||Damage was first noted off Morris Run Rd, just east of Highway|21 in Greene County and approximately 3 miles ESE of Graysville|PA. The tornado primarily affected trees as it moved southeast|between 735 PM and 741 PM. As the tornado crossed Morris Run Rd,|it caused a barn to collapse, with debris blown to the property|across the road. The tornado continued to uproot trees as it|traveled southeast, and it also removed siding from a house.|Several hardwood trees were uprooted as the tornado approached|Scott Run Rd. Additionally, a camper was flipped over adjacent to|where it was parked. Only a few trees were down on the other side|of Scott Run Rd, likely where the tornado lifted.

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

The warnings

24 minutes of warning. NWS PBZ issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:11 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:09 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZ
22:48 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZ
23:11 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningPBZ
23:16 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZ
23:44 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningPBZ

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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 (KPIT), 12:00Z

11.6 hours before the tornado, 58 km from the path. August 1, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2022-08-01Temperature 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 -91306, lifted condensation level 593 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 2022-08-01The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.193958Sfc1 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
-91306 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
593 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 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
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 00:00Z

0.4 hours after it, 58 km from the path. August 2, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2022-08-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 300 joules per kilogram, CIN -25, lifted condensation level 927 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2022-08-02The 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 145 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
300 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1245 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
927 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
181 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:34 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
22:04 UTCTSTM WND DMGClaysvilleWashington, PAWIRES DOWN IN CLAYSVILLE.
22:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ese Van BurenWashington, PA4 LARGE TREES DOWN ALONG PIKES PEAK ROAD.
22:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw MccrackenWashington, PAA COUPLE TREES DOWN NEAR VISTA VALLEY ROAD AND BEDILLION ROAD.
22:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw BraddockWashington, PAPUBLIC REPORTED DOWNED TREES AND DAMAGE TO HOMES ON SPRING VALLEY DRIVE.
23:35 UTCTORNADO7 Wnw WaynesburgGreene, PANWS CONFIRMED EF0 TORNADO
23:36 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nne RutanGreene, PAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN ON MORRIS RUN ROAD.
23:37 UTCTSTM WND DMGNinevehGreene, PALINES DOWN ALONG BROWNS CREEK ROAD NEAR TRIPP HILL.
23:39 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ne RutanGreene, PATREES AND LINES DOWN ON SCOTT RUN ROAD. POTENTIAL UNOCCUPIED TRAILER FLIPPED OVER.
23:39 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S East ViewGreene, PATREES DOWN ON OAK FORREST ROAD NEAR STONE HILL ROAD.
23:39 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nnw RutanGreene, PATREES DOWN ON STATE ROUTE 21 NEAR HARVEY HILL ROAD.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 1, 2022

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 14:46 AM CDTEF0Mason, IL0.460
August 15:12 AM CDTEF1Logan, IL1.960
August 11:56 PM EDTEF0Tuscola, MI2.4200
August 12:14 PM EDTEF0Tuscola, MI0.4100
August 16:05 PM CDTEF2Marshall, WV to PA1.8350$650,000

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.