EF0 Tornado — Washington, Pennsylvania

2025-05-21 · near Buffalo, Washington, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.2500, -80.3800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1266283. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.