Tornadoes · United States · Pennsylvania · 2026
EF1 tornado, Centre County, Pennsylvania, July 18, 2026
This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Centre County on July 18, 2026, touching down at 4:33 PM EDT and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS CTP's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Burnside Township Tornado. 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- July 18, 2026
- Touchdown
- 4:33 PM EDT (20:33 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:35 PM EDT (20:35 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 1.0 miles (1.7 km)
- Path width
- 250 yards (229 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Centre County
- Touchdown point
- 41.151, -77.862
- Lift-off point
- 41.145, -77.845
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 110 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS CTP
- The office's name for it
- Burnside Township Tornado
- Survey last edited
- September 18, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
At approximately 4:33 PM EDT on July 18, 2026, a supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado in northern Centre County just east of Eddy Ridge Road near State Line Road. The tornado produced multiple areas of concentrated tree damage over the next 2 minutes as it travelled southeastward for just over a mile in a heavily wooded area. Approximately 200 trees were downed or snapped. We would like to thank the PA Bureau of Forestry 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
4 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 110 mph.
- Approximately 150 trees snapped or uprooted in a concentrated area within the forest.
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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:03 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:21 UTC | 00:56 UTC | Flood Watch | CTP |
| 17:03 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | CTP |
| 19:42 UTC | 20:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP |
| 20:29 UTC | 21:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP |
| 21:00 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP |
| 22:26 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP |
| 00:16 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | CTP |
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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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
8.6 hours before the tornado, 206 km from the path. July 18, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 510 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -51 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 93 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 790 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 139 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), 00:00Z
3.4 hours after it, 206 km from the path. July 19, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2105 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -22 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3928 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 932 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 250 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 267 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.3
- Supercell composite
- 18.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.5 K/km
The surface observations
State College (UNV), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:53 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 220° 7 kt | 1009.5 | FU | |
| 19:53 UTC | 80.6 | 75.2 | 200° 9 kt | 1008.8 | FU | |
| 20:53 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 220° 9 kt | 15 | 1008.5 | |
| 21:53 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 210° 6 kt | 1007.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:35 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 N Benezette | Elk, PA | Trees down on wires on Little Dents Road. |
| 20:33 UTC | TORNADO | 8 Sse Keating | Centre, PA | EF-1 tornado with est max wind 110 mph on the ground for 2 min uprooting or snapping approx 200 trees. Path width 250 yds, length 1.04 mi. |
| 21:04 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Wnw Glen Union | Clinton, PA | Tree down on the 5900 block of Renovo Road. |
| 21:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Wsw Force | Clearfield, PA | Tree damage reported north of Penfield. |
| 21:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ene Carroll | Clinton, PA | Trees down by Fourth Gap Road. Time estimated by radar. |
| 21:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ene Carroll | Clinton, PA | Trees down on wires blocking roadway, by Fourth Gap Road. Time estimated by radar. |
| 23:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Penfield | Clearfield, PA | Trees down on wires along Doctors Lane. |
| 23:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wnw Glen Union | Clinton, PA | Trees down on wires along Route 120 and Zimmerman Lane. |
| 23:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Lock Haven | Clinton, PA | Trees down on wires along Havenview 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
The other tornadoes of July 18, 2026
17 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 18 | 3:54 PM EDT | EF1 | Clarion, PA | 1.5 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 4:44 PM EDT | EF0 | Jefferson, PA | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| July 18 | 4:51 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 0.6 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:08 PM EDT | EF0 | Westmoreland, PA | 1.7 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 5:38 PM EDT | EF2 | Somerset, PA | 0.7 | 100 | |||
| July 18 | 6:12 PM EDT | EF1 | Broome, NY | 15.7 | 300 | |||
| July 18 | 6:30 PM EDT | EF0 | Dorchester, MD | 0.4 | 0 | |||
| July 18 | 8:16 PM EDT | EF1 | Clearfield, PA | 1.1 | 400 | |||
| July 18 | 8:29 PM EDT | EF0 | Blair, PA | 0.4 | 150 | |||
| July 18 | 8:43 PM EDT | EF2 | Huntingdon, PA | 0.5 | 500 |
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.