Strong Wind — Blair, Pennsylvania

2025-10-19 · Blair, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Gusty winds ahead of a cold front coupled with showers along the cold front, produced multiple hours of wind gusts between 25 and 40 mph across Blair County. Gusty winds began during the late morning and continued to increase into the evening hours, where a maximum wind gust of 44 mph was measured at Altoona-Blair County Airport. Multiple instances of trees and wires being knocked down were reported near Altoona.

Wider weather episode

An approaching cold front on October 19, 2025 gradually traversed west-to-east across Central Pennsylvania with a tight pressure gradient allowing for gusty winds ahead of and along the cold frontal passage. Multiple trees were knocked down in and around Altoona during the late evening hours of October 19th. Winds became remarkably stronger after the cold frontal passage with an upper-level low beginning to pivot over the region increasing during the early morning hours of October 20, 2025. Ample vertical mixing allowed for a 40-mph low-level jet to begin mixing down to the surface, with an extended period of wind gusts between 25 mph and 40 mph throughout the day on October 20th. During the early afternoon hours of October 20th, there were two instances of trees being knocked down on to vehicles in York City (York County) and Manheim Township (Lancaster County), with no injuries reported from either occurrence.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1291634. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.