EF0 Tornado — Washington, Pennsylvania

2025-05-16 · near Gale, Washington, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh conducted a storm survey based on drone footage. The damage south of East Finley Washington County Pennsylvania, between Birch Road to Elwood Day Road, was determined to be caused by a weak EF0 tornado. The damage was to hardwood trees with large limbs just west of Birch Road and continued east. This was a heavily wooded area where vehicle access was limited. Drone pictures provided to the National Weather Service showed a convergence signature in open fields between the two roads in addition to around ten downed trees that were not visible by automobiles.

Wider weather episode

A couple bands of thunderstorms formed ahead of a warm front during the afternoon of May 16th, leading to a brief tornado in Washington County and a single wind report in Jefferson County. Later on, in the warm and humid airmass behind the front, a decaying mesoscale convective system crossed Ohio and into Pennsylvania just north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Several reports of downed trees were received from these storms just after midnight on the 17th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.0144, -80.3590)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1266032. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.