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EF1 tornado in Erie County, Pennsylvania

Tornado May 28, 2013 · Erie County, Pennsylvania

EF1

Rating

1.7 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

Injuries

$75K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

A supercell thunderstorm produced two tornadoes in Erie County. The first tornado touched down about two miles northeast of Cranesville. The tornado was on the ground for over a mile and a half and downed many trees. A mobile home was also overturned and destroyed. Five people inside the mobile home were injured. A couple of farm buildings were also heavily damaged. Peak winds were estimated to be around 90 mph making it an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The damage path was no more than 50 yards wide.

The wider storm

A warm front lifted north across the upper Ohio Valley spreading warm and moist air across the region. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed in association with this front. A couple of the thunderstorms became severe. Two tornadoes occurred in southern Erie County and caused some damage. A motorcyclist hit a downed tree in western Crawford County and died from his injuries.

A second wave of thunderstorms occurred during the evening of the 29th as the warm front lingered over the region. A thunderstorm became severe in Crawford County and caused some damage.

Began near Ivarea (41.9200, -80.3000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Erie County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 453552. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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