EF2 tornado in Washington County, Pennsylvania

An NWS storm survey confirmed that an EF-2 tornado, with winds peaking near 118 MPH, tracked through northern Washington County on the evening of May 11, 2024. The length was 5.92 miles and the maximum width was estimated to be 200 yards.

The tornado first touched down along Oak Ridge Drive, where minor

tree damage was noted. Estimated wind gusts in this vicinity were near 90 MPH to 95 MPH. The tornado continued to track across a farm hillside, then it hit a small shed in a planning community on Equestrian Drive. Tree damage was also noted along Equestrian Drive, Bride Trail, Turkeyfoot Road, Fox Run Road, and Doubletree Drive.

The tornado intensified near Church Hill Road and Greyhawk Circle,

where a two story garage received heavy damage. The roof and side walls were tossed 50 to 75 yards downstream. Large hardwood trees were also snapped and/or uprooted next to the destroyed garage between Kingston Circle and Greyhawk Circle.

Shingle damage was noted to a number of homes along Kingston Circle and Hedgerow Drive. Viral video footage was captured along Longleaf Drive as the tornado tracked over a field and impacted homes along McClelland Road. one home on McClelland Road lost 50% of its roof, had a destroyed shed, and a number of trees were either snapped or uprooted surrounding the property. Their neighbor had their entire

garage destroyed and had some shingle damage. The tornado lifted the metal roof of the garage and siding over 500 yards towards Route 88.

The tornado continued towards Walter Long Road and caused roof damage at Crossroads Ministries. A religious service was being held at the time and two attendees received minor injuries as broken glass from windows blew out. The church steeple broke free from the front of the building and landed in pieces on a few parked cars. About 1,000 square feet of the church lost its entire roof. Insulation from the church was found 2.5 miles away in some trees (along Stone Church Road). As the tornado tracked towards State Route 88, the range of maximum wind speed was between 111 MPH to 118 MPH.

Significant tree damage was noted and a power pole between Morgan Lane and Ridge Avenue was snapped adjacent to Route 88. The tornado continued towards Brownsville Road Extension where large trees were uprooted and/or snapped and roof damage was visible to a home. A storage shed, at the intersection of Chevy Chase Drive, Mcchain Road, and Seward Road, lost over 20% of its metal roof and portions of its side walls.

Additional tree damage was noted along Curry Lane, Dennison Lane, Aber Road, and Lobbs Run Road before the tornado dissipated less than 2 miles northwest of Elrama.

A warm front pushed a swath of light to moderate showers across the Upper Ohio Valley during the morning and midday hours of May 11th. Behind this boundary, the increase in low-level moisture and partial clearing helped instability to recover fairly rapidly, and allowed for an increase in shear as well. Discrete storms then fired ahead of an advancing cold front during the early afternoon, and then they advanced across southwest Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia through the remainder of the afternoon and early evening. In eastern Ohio, all storm reports were of hail between 0.75 and 1.25 inch diameter, but as storms matured in southwest Pennsylvania, hail reports increased up to 1.75 inch, as well as a few reports of straight-line wind. Storms closer to the PA/WV border were able to take advantage of sufficient low-level instability and surface vorticity to allow for the development of three tornadoes, one of which was a more significant EF2 twister.