Huntingdon County Tornado One of Six in the State

The National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in the early morning hours Thursday near Broad Top City, here is the full report from the National Weather Service.

Location...Broad Top City, Huntingdon County

Date...Thursday, April 28, 2011

Estimated time...2:30 am

Maximum EF-scale rating...EF1

Estimated maximum wind speed...90 MPH

Maximum path width...50 yards

Path length...4 miles

Fatalities...0

Injuries...0

The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the event(s) and publication in NWS storm data.

Summary:

The National Weather Service in State College has confirmed that a tornado occurred in and near Broad Top City in southern Huntingdon County during the early morning hours of April 28^th, 2011.

The weak tornado first produced damage in Broad Top City, including a tree that fell on a house. The tornado skipped along An eastward path toward the intersection of State Route 3019 and

Route 994. Many pine trees were uprooted along the path of the tornado, and two houses sustained minor damage. Eyewitnesses were able to place the time of the tornado between 2:30am and 2:35am on the 28th.

The damage that was observed was consistent with a maximum wind speed of 85 to 90 mph.  Therefore,the tornado has been classified in the lower-end of the EF1 rating on the Enhanced

Fujita scale.

For reference...the enhanced fujita scale classifies tornadoes into

The following categories:

EF0...Wind speeds 65 to 85 mph.

EF1...Wind speeds 86 to 110 mph.

EF2...Wind speeds 111 to 135 mph.

EF3...Wind speeds 136 to 165 mph.

EF4...Wind speeds 166 to 200 mph.

EF5...Wind speeds greater than 200 mph

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The Huntingdon County tornado was one of six that touched down Thursday morning in the state.  While that is a far cry from what happened down across the south, it was a pretty impressive outbreak by PA standards.  In addition to the tornado in Huntingdon County, an EF0 tornado touched down in Juniata County.  Two EF2 twisters touched down in York and Lebanon counties (south and east of Harrisburg), causing damage at the Roundtop Ski Area in York County.  Another EF1 touched down in Lebanon County and there was a confirmed EF0 tornado in Susquehanna County in far Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Two EF2 twisters in Pennsylvania during the same outbreak is impressive, but probably the most impressive thing about this outbreak was the time the storms occurred.  All of the tornadoes occurred between 2:00am and 8:00am, which is one of the most stable times of the day when very few tornadoes occur.  We had the perfect combination of warm, humid air at the surface (even at 2 or 3 in the morning) and wind shear, which is the changing of wind direction with height.  That shear helps the stronger storms rotate.  When storms rotate, tornadoes can form.

We're entering the month of May, which is one of the peak months for tornadoes in Pennsylvania.  Remember that we're Your Weather Authority for severe weather on-air and online throughout the severe weather season.

--Meteorologist Brian Thompson

Tornado Moves Right Over St. Louis Airport

While I was sitting here at work Friday night, I was watching some of the live coverage of severe weather going on from our CBS affiliate in St. Louis.  I never anticipated seeing and hearing the kind of damage that occurred.  Not long after 8:00pm, the tower observer at Lambert Airport just outside of St. Louis put a funnel cloud in his observations.  I have only seen a funnel cloud reported in airport obs a couple of times, so this was pretty remarkable.  Here are the obs from 7-10pm - notice the +FC in the middle.  That indicates that the observer is seeing a funnel cloud.

The storm passed, but it wasn't until a few minutes later that the scope of the damage at the airport was realized.  One of the first photos to come out of the airport showed this shuttle van dangling off of the edge of the parking garage:

And then today, we saw surveillance camera images during the storm.  Here is what it looked like when the tornado hit in one part of the airport.  This is from KMOV, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis:


Amazingly, no one died as a result of the tornadoes in Missouri.  That is a tribute to the ample warning time given for the storms and everyone's efforts to get in a safe location as the storm passed.  This is why we always say to get into a basement or interior room away from windows when a tornado warning is issued.  Pennsylvania is not a place that sees a lot of tornadoes, but you always need to take a warning issued for your area seriously.  Just ask the people in Missouri who stayed safe from the tornadoes because they did heed the warnings.

It is worth mentioning that we are heading into peak tornado season in Pennsylvania, which runs from May through July.

--Meteorologist Brian Thompson

Enjoying the Ride Yet?

It's funny how spring works in Central Pennsylvania.  It truly feels like the transition season, even more than fall does.  I think it's because many are looking forward to the warmer weather and we're constantly getting teased by some sunny, warm afternoons...followed by snow a few days later.  Take this week - we started out near 70 degrees on Monday then some thunderstorms knocked us back down and we've had a chilly few days with even some snow across the higher terrain.  Today is just a miserable day with clouds and a cool rain, but April showers bring May flowers after all, don't they?  And I suspect some of you will venture out into the garden Sunday and Monday, as temperatures top out in the 70s and even the 80s in some spots on Monday. 

Even the best spring seasons can be rough at times.  Take last year, which really wasn't bad at all.  As Joe blogged about earlier in the week, we had some plenty of warm days, including record highs of 85 and 84 on April 6th and 7th.  We didn't see many harsh cold shots or much snow in March or April, which is rare around here.  The surprise?  It didn't come until May 11th, when many areas picked up snowflakes and some places even saw a coating of snow. 

--Meteorologist Brian Thompson

The Good Ol' Days of Spring 2010

If you think that this March and early April is a lot colder than last year; it's not you. A quick comparison between highlight days (temps reaching above 60) shows that there is a big difference between the two years.

March through today March through April 5, 2010

Days reaching above 60 5 14

Days reaching above 70 1 6


So which one is the abnormality? We would love to think that it is this year. But the truth is that last year was the more rare event. This spring temperatures are averaging less than a degree below the long term average. Last year we were over 4 degrees above average through this date. It truly was one of the more memorable springs that I can remember. Makes you long for the good old days of the spring of 2010.

Japan Nuclear Crisis

Have you wondered about the environmental effects of the Japan Nuclear reactor damage?  I certainly have.  Here's a link from an interesting article I found from National Geographic.  Any thoughts on the subject??
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110331-japan-radiation-health-mutations-nuclear-animals-ocean-science-world/

Regina Miller