Strong Wind — Lancaster, Pennsylvania

2025-10-20 · Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Gusty winds behind a cold front produced multiple hours of wind gusts between 25 and 40 mph across Lancaster County on October 20, 2025. Gusty winds began during the late morning and continued to increase into the afternoon hours, where a maximum wind gust of 38 mph was measured at Lancaster Airport. A tree was knocked down on Countryside Drive in Manheim Township that fell and smashed two vehicles while narrowly missing a residence during the early afternoon hours.

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 1291635. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.