EF1 Tornado — Lehigh, Pennsylvania

2008-09-06 · near East Penn Jct, Lehigh, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado with maximum wind gusts of about 95 mph touched down in East Allentown. The tornado damaged about 50 homes and the Louis E. Dieruff High School which was closed until September 10th. About 100 trees were damaged or destroyed. The tornado touched down between North Ortt Street and East Cedar Street behind the Lehigh Valley Christian High School on Oswego Street. It proceeded to move west paralleling East Cedar Street and reached its maximum strength around North Kearney Street where EF1 damage started. The high school was within the path of the strongest part of the tornado. The tornado started to weaken just before it crossed North Irving Street and lifted around North Hart Street.

Homes were hardest hit near the intersection of East Cedar and Kiowa Streets. Several roofs were damaged; shingles were pulled from other homes. Part of a roof was torn away from a home on North Irving Street. Along the path of the tornado siding was torn from a few other homes and power lines were pulled down in addition to the tree damage. The greatest destruction occurred on the grounds of the Louis E. Dieruff High School. The tornado peeled away a section of the high school's roof near the planetarium. This allowed the heavy rain to cause water damage to seventeen classrooms and a couple of hundred lockers. Ventilation units located on the roof were wrenched away. About twenty-five trees on the high school grounds were knocked down; the limbs damaged several school windows. Repairs to the high school were not expected to be completed until the middle of November.

The tornado path length was about 0.6 of a mile and its maximum path width was about 30 yards. No injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

The only confirmed tornado in the United States associated with Tropical Storm Hanna occurred in Allentown.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6226, -75.4329)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 134434. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.