Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania

2023 tornadoes in Pennsylvania

24 tornadoes touched down in Pennsylvania in 2023, 83 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2022 2024 The whole country in 2023

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 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.

Every tornado in Pennsylvania in 2023

April 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 16:46 PM EDTEF1Bucks3.9200

April 22 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 224:18 PM EDTEF1Berks1.0125

June 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 121:30 PM EDTEF0York0.3130

June 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 1611:10 AM EDTEF1Chester1.8250

June 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 262:58 PM EDTEF0Northampton3.460

July 2 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 23:08 PM EDTEF1Centre0.6200
July 23:44 PM EDTEF0Dauphin0.950
July 23:48 PM EDTEF1Union1.5150$15,000
July 23:59 PM EDTEF1Union2.150$40,000
July 24:25 PM EDTEF1Union2.4150
July 27:08 PM EDTEF0Susquehanna1.7300$25,000
July 27:18 PM EDTEF0Lackawanna0.270$15,000

August 7 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 75:02 PM EDTEF1York0.575$25,000
August 75:24 PM EDTEF1York1.550$10,000
August 75:40 PM EDTEF0Lancaster0.540
August 76:25 PM EDTEF1Susquehanna1.4200$5,000
August 77:21 PM EDTEF1Lehigh0.3160

August 12 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 121:24 PM EDTEF0Erie0.520$5,000
August 124:32 PM EDTEF1Luzerne3.3150$100,000
August 128:08 PM EDTEF1Washington4.530$350,000
August 128:49 PM EDTEF1Cambria0.3100
August 128:55 PM EDTEF0Cambria0.2100$10,000

August 25 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 252:28 AM EDTEF1Fayette6.260$150,000
August 252:34 AM EDTEF2Fayette2.03006$850,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in PennsylvaniaThe live radar over Pennsylvania

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.