EF1 tornado, Kirkwood to Kirkwood Arpt, Pennsylvania, June 14, 2026

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.

Rating, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

June 14, 2026

Touchdown

9:32 PM EDT (01:32 UTC)

Lifted

9:37 PM EDT (01:37 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lancaster County

Touchdown point

39.837, -76.113

Lift-off point

39.846, -76.061

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS CTP

Survey last edited

June 16, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A storm survey team from The National Weather Service office in State College confirmed an EF-1 tornado near Kirkwood in Lancaster County. Maximum winds of 90-100 mph snapped several tree trunks and large limbs. The damage began on Wesley Rd between Puseyville Rd and Noble Rd in Little Britain Township at approximately 9:32 PM EDT on Sunday, Jun 14. Over the next 5 minutes, the tornado continued into Colerain Township, producing sporadic damage including damage to trees on Noble Rd near White Rock Rd and damage to power poles on Kirkwood Pike near Morrison Mill Rd.

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

6 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 100 mph.

• Large limbs down on powerlines
• Large tree with multiple limbs sheared off

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

A low pressure system stations across central Quebec with a trailing cold front across the Great Lakes allowed for central Pennsylvania to experience residence time within the warm sector throughout much of the day on June 14, 2026. Initial shower activity during the morning and early afternoon hours stayed largely non-hazardous before convection began across western Pennsylvania during the afternoon and evening hours. Clearing skies after the initial showers and thunderstorms allowed for instability to rise above 1000 J/kg across much of the region by the late afternoon hours with effective bulk shear in the 40-50 knot range. Of note, 0-1km shear magnitudes across much of the region trended upwards of 30 knots, which allowed for ample low-level spin within thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. As the cold front began to move eastward across central Pennsylvania, a line of thunderstorms pushed across the region with many kinks in the line exhibiting tornadic circulations. Ahead of the line, some thunderstorms began to form where clear skies allowed for destabilization with some cells exhibiting supercellular characteristics. Wind damage was first observed during the early evening hours, where multiple trees and wires were down across western Pennsylvania. Damage continued as thunderstorms moved further east throughout the evening hours. In terms of cells ahead of the line, wind damage was mostly concentrated across Franklin, York, and Lancaster Counties. Four tornadoes occurred with the storm system on June 14th; an EF-1 near Grand Valley in Warren County, an EF-0 near Homer Township in Potter County, an EF-1 near Pine Glen in Centre County, and an EF-1 near Kirkwood in Lancaster County. A microburst also occurred in York County, where widespread tree damage was observed near Brogue.

An EF-1 tornado occurred near Kirkwood on the evening of June 14th. The maximum wind speed was estimated to be 100 mph and the tornado had a maximum path width of 30 yards. Tree damage associated with the tornado was first noted along Wesley Road between Puseyville Road and Noble Road in Little Britain Township. The tornado continued into Colerain Township, producing sporadic damage to trees on Noble Road and to power poles on Kirkwood Pike.

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

39 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:53 UTC, 39 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:07 UTC and running to 02:28 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:42 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 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.

Coatesville (MQS), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dover AFB radar (KDOX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:32 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.

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

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

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

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

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.

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.