EF1 Tornado — Elk, Pennsylvania

2025-03-16 · near Rathbun, Elk, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado occurred along North Fork Road in Elk County during the afternoon hours of March 16, 2025 with maximum estimated winds at 100 mph. The tornado was on the ground for less than one minute, but downed, snapped, and uprooted hundreds of trees and power lines. A local resident indicated that a window was blown in at their residence along with a barn roof being partially lifted due to the tornado. The damage was concentrated within a swath about 200 yards wide.

Wider weather episode

A cold front west of central Pennsylvania slowly began to drift eastward during the morning hours and throughout the day on March 16, 2025 allowing ample lift in an environment with sufficient shear and instability to form a quasi-linear convective system across western Pennsylvania. This QLCS continued moving into a more favorable environment across central Pennsylvania, with increased instability from a dry slot coupled with a favorable entrance region of an upper-level jet maximum to produce enhanced shear. This allowed for the QLCS to strengthen across central Pennsylvania and caused extensive damage across west-central Pennsylvania with ample low-level shear spawning two tornadoes in Clinton and Elk counties. Farther east, a less favorable environment was in place with more stable air and lower shear; however, the forward momentum of the QLCS allowed for further damage across northeastern Pennsylvania. Later in the evening, thunderstorms began to form south of central Pennsylvania and gradually drifted northeastward with upper-level support. Strong-to-severe thunderstorms were present along the Mason-Dixon line with a severe thunderstorm producing quarter and ping pong-sized hail in York County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.4934, -78.4747)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1238427. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.