Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2026

EF1 tornado, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, August 22, 2026

This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Clearfield County on August 22, 2026, touching down at 7:55 PM EDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS CTP's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Madera EF-1 Aug 22, 2026. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.

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 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.

The survey

Rating, as surveyed
EF1, preliminary
Date
August 22, 2026
Touchdown
7:55 PM EDT (23:55 UTC)
Lifted
7:57 PM EDT (23:57 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Clearfield County
Touchdown point
40.828, -78.438
Lift-off point
40.832, -78.420
Highest wind the damage implies
90 mph
Surveyed by
NWS CTP
The office's name for it
Madera EF-1 Aug 22, 2026
Survey last edited
August 26, 2026
Record number
None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

What the survey found

The National Weather Service has confirmed tornado damage in southeast Clearfield County.

At approximately 7:55 PM EDT on Saturday, August 22, 2026, a line of thunderstorms merged with a supercell thunderstorm and produced a tornado in the town of Madera. The tornadic damage began on Belsena Road near Elm Street, where a large tree was blown across the road. Multiple trees were uprooted or snapped and a roof was torn off of a residence on Spruce Street. Trees were also snapped and uprooted on the east side of Madera on Alexander Road and Heritage Lane. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 2 minutes and traveled approximately 1 mile before dissipating. Straight line winds continued to produce sporadic damage to the northeast of Madera.

We want to thank the Clearfield County Emergency Management Agency and Madera Township fire officials for their help with this survey.

Written by NWS CTP in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

The damage survey

10 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 93 mph.

  • Most of roof torn off and thrown into the front yard.
  • Tree snapped and fell over driveway.
  • A few trees uprooted and damage to a goat pen.
  • Air conditioning unit through window and fridge thrown across street.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:12 UTC02:56 UTCFlood WatchCTP
21:55 UTC02:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningCTP
23:08 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
23:32 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
23:42 UTC02:55 UTCFlash Flood WarningCTP
23:55 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTP
23:58 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningCTP
00:11 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningCTP
00:29 UTC01:00 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 19:56 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

11.9 hours before the tornado, 149 km from the path. August 22, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2026-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 84 joules per kilogram, CIN -98, lifted condensation level 1145 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 12:00Z on 2026-08-22The 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 19 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-98 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1145 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 00:00Z

0.1 hours after it, 149 km from the path. August 23, 2026.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 2026-08-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 286 joules per kilogram, CIN -63, lifted condensation level 943 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 2026-08-23The 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 143 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
286 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63 J/kg
Surface CAPE
527 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
943 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Clearfield-Lawrence Apt(Was N97) (FIG), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:55 UTC130° 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:00 UTC130° 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:05 UTC160° 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:10 UTC120° 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:15 UTC110° 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:17 UTC7266 3 kt1012.2-RA
22:20 UTC100° 3 kt1011.9-RA
22:25 UTC0° 0 kt1011.9-RA
22:30 UTC0° 0 kt1011.9-RA
22:35 UTC0° 0 kt1012.2-RA
22:40 UTC0° 0 kt1011.9-RA
22:45 UTC130° 3 kt1011.9
22:50 UTC0° 0 kt1012.2
22:54 UTC70660° 0 kt1012.2VCTS -RA
22:55 UTC0° 0 kt1012.2-RA
23:00 UTC0° 0 kt1012.2-RA
23:05 UTC0° 0 kt1012.5-RA
23:10 UTC220° 3 kt1012.5-RA
23:13 UTC6867230° 4 kt1012.5-RA
23:15 UTC220° 3 kt1012.5-RA
23:20 UTC190° 3 kt1012.2-RA BR
23:25 UTC0° 0 kt1011.9RA BR
23:26 UTC686790° 3 kt1011.5VCTS RA BR
23:30 UTC0° 0 kt1011.9RA BR
23:35 UTC230° 4 kt1012.2RA BR
23:37 UTC6866250° 5 kt1012.2VCTS RA BR
23:40 UTC250° 4 kt1012.5RA BR
23:45 UTC280° 5 kt1012.9-RA BR
23:50 UTC310° 8 kt1013.2RA BR
23:54 UTC6766300° 14 kt271013.5VCTS RA BR
23:55 UTC 1013.5RA BR
00:00 UTC 1013.5+RA BR
00:04 UTC6361310° 12 kt1013.9VCTS +RA BR
00:05 UTC310° 12 kt1013.9+RA BR
00:10 UTC300° 6 kt1013.9RA BR
00:11 UTC6261290° 7 kt181013.9VCTS RA BR
00:15 UTC 1013.9+RA BR
00:16 UTC6260270° 9 kt161013.9VCTS +RA BR
00:20 UTC260° 9 kt1013.5+RA BR
00:25 UTC6260240° 5 kt171013.5VCTS +RA BR
00:25 UTC240° 5 kt1013.5+RA BR
00:30 UTC200° 3 kt1013.5RA BR
00:32 UTC61600° 0 kt1013.5VCTS RA BR
00:35 UTC0° 0 kt1013.5RA BR
00:40 UTC0° 0 kt1013.2-RA
00:45 UTC0° 0 kt1013.2-RA
00:50 UTC80° 4 kt1012.9-RA
00:54 UTC616170° 4 kt1012.9VCTS -RA
00:55 UTC70° 4 kt1012.9-RA
01:00 UTC110° 3 kt1012.9-RA
01:05 UTC0° 0 kt1012.9
01:10 UTC100° 3 kt1012.9
01:14 UTC61610° 0 kt1013.2-RA
01:15 UTC0° 0 kt1013.2-RA
01:20 UTC0° 0 kt1013.2-RA
01:25 UTC0° 0 kt1012.9-RA
01:30 UTC0° 0 kt1012.9-RA
01:35 UTC0° 0 kt1012.9-RA
01:40 UTC10° 3 kt1012.5-RA BR
01:41 UTC616110° 3 kt1012.5-RA BR
01:45 UTC40° 3 kt1012.2-RA BR
01:50 UTC0° 0 kt1012.5BR
01:54 UTC616060° 3 kt1012.2BR

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:54 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:45 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Nnw MahaffeyClearfield, PAFlooding on Route 219 between Irvin St and Kings Hwy.
22:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene Glen HopeClearfield, PATrees down on 100 block of Keagy Rd in Madera.
23:14 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W ReynoldsvilleJefferson, PAtrees down on fuller road.
23:19 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N DuncansvilleBlair, PATrees and wires down by Arlene Ln and Herr Ln.
23:27 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nne ForceElk, PATrees down on wires near Weedville.
23:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wnw WilliamsburgBlair, PALarge tree down on Route 22 near the base of Short Mountain.
23:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene Glen HopeClearfield, PACorrects previous tstm wnd dmg report from 1 ENE Glen Hope. Trees down on 100 block of Keagy Rd in Madera.
23:55 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 W LakemontBlair, PAFlooding on 500 block of Plank Road.
23:55 UTCTORNADO3 Nw RameyClearfield, PAEF-1 tornado with maximum wind speed of 90 mph. Path length of 1 mile and path width of 150 yards.
23:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw RameyClearfield, PANumerous trees down in Madera.
00:07 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W Osceola MillsClearfield, PA*** 1 INJ *** Tree down on a car on Coal Run Rd, causing an injury to the driver.
00:14 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne Osceola MillsClearfield, PATree down on side of Walton St.
00:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Wnw PhilipsburgClearfield, PATree down with arcing wires. Time estimated by radar.
00:18 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W PhilipsburgClearfield, PATree fell into the roof of a home. No injuries. Time estimated by radar.
00:24 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W PhilipsburgClearfield, PATree down, blocking roadway in front of housing development.
00:44 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se Black Moshannon StCentre, PATree down across Beaver Rd.
00:45 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Wnw LakemontBlair, PAMultiple flooded basements in Altoona between Logan Blvd and 58th St.
00:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wnw UnionvilleCentre, PATree down blocking both lanes of Rattlesnake Pike.
00:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGBellefonteCentre, PATree down blocking right lane of E Bishop St.
01:00 UTCFLOOD1 Nw PhilipsburgClearfield, PAFlooding on Route 322 near Irwin Dr.
02:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Nne HollidaysburgBlair, PAWater entering the lower floors of apartment buildings on Country Club Terrace Road.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in PennsylvaniaEvery tornado in Pennsylvania since 1950Warnings in force in Pennsylvania nowThe forecast where you are

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

Sources

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.