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EF0 tornado in Washington County, Pennsylvania

Tornado May 21, 2025 · Washington County, Pennsylvania

EF0
Rating
2.2 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$10K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Based on damage reports provided to NWS, a brief EF0 tornado (max wind 65 mph) began just east of Cross Creek County Park near Oakleaf Rd, crossed Willow Rd and likely weakened toward Lynn Portal Rd. Damage in this area was mainly to trees, where several large limbs were snapped and fascia was removed on a home along Willow Rd. This brief tornado preceded the longer-track one that began near Houston.

The wider storm

An occluding surface low slowly drifted across Ohio on May 21st. Bands of showers with embedded thunderstorms moved across southwest Pennsylvania. During the mid to late afternoon, one convective band, associated with ample 0-3km CAPE and surface vorticity, was able to generate four tornadoes across southwest PA. Three were relatively brief and weak, but one longer-track EF1 was noted in Washington County. Multiple rounds of slow-moving heavier rain also produced a number of flash flooding incidents.

Began near Buffalo (40.2500, -80.3800).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1266283. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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