EF1 tornado, Potter and Tioga counties, Pennsylvania, September 1, 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

September 1, 2026

Touchdown

5:33 PM EDT (21:33 UTC)

Lifted

5:48 PM EDT (21:48 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

6.5 miles (10.4 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Potter and Tioga counties

Touchdown point

41.794, -77.615

Lift-off point

41.708, -77.575

Highest wind the damage implies

110 mph

Surveyed by

NWS CTP

The office's name for it

Gaines Township Tornado

Survey last edited

September 4, 2026

Record number

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

On September 1, 2026 at approximately 5:33 PM EDT, an EF-1 tornado impacted areas of eastern Potter County and western Tioga County in the vicinity of Gaines Township. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 110 mph with a maximum path width of 150 yards.

Damage associated with the tornado began north of Galeton near Phoenix Run in Pike Township, where multiple hardwood trees were snapped along with numerous large branches on both sides of Phoenix Road. There was more extensive damage just east of Phoenix Road, where a larger swath of EF-1 damage was observed with some uprooted trees alongside snapped trees and large branches. Damage continued southeastward on Phoenix Road in Potter County with more sporadic damage including broken large branches and snapped trees. There was an area where the tornado potentially lifted as it approached US Route 6 with damage being largely sporadic and not as concentrated as it crossed the roadway.

Once crossing US Route 6, more widespread damage was observed across Hanky Panky Road in Gaines Township, Tioga County. Numerous uprooted and snapped trees were observed across approximately a 150 yard segment with eyewitnesses mentioning that there were trees across the roadway in a convergent pattern. This damage continued towards the intersections of Dingman Road and Bloody Run Road, where concentrated areas of snapped and uprooted trees continued to be observed. There was another eyewitness that noted multiple trees uprooted at their residence on Dingman Road with what appeared to be a convergent pattern. As the storm continued into Marshlands, multiple large branches as well as uprooted and snapped trees were in a convergent pattern, with surrounding vegetation also outlining a convergent pattern. The tornado likely continued to parallel Elk Run Road just south of the roadway before dissipating on the north side of the intersection with Straight Run Road.

We would like to thank Gaines Township Emergency Management, Tioga County Emergency Management, multiple first responders, and the multiple eyewitnesses from Gaines Township for their assistance with this damage survey.

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

16 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.

• Large branches snapped or twisted off and an uproot. Across street the same at direction of 170.
• Multiple trees snapped and uprooted, one fell and damaged a cabin.
• Multiple large tree branches snapped.
• Softwood uprooted and a few hardwood trunks snapped.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS CTP issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:13 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:32 UTC and running to 02:30 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. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Wellsboro (N38), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The State College radar (KCCX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:34 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.

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

2 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.