High Wind — Warren, Pennsylvania
2000-12-12 · Warren, Pennsylvania
Event narrative
Low pressure tracked northeast from the Mississippi Valley, intensifying rapidly as it tracked across Cleveland, OH overnight to Montreal, Canada by Tuesday morning of the 12th. A strong cold front trailing from the low moved east across Pennsylvania producing wind damage in every central PA county. Statewide, it was estimated some 200,000 customers were without electricity at some time during the event. A 79-year old female died at 5:30 a.m. in Westport, Clinton County, when a tree fell on her mobile home as she slept. The tree, a sycamore, broke off about 15 feet above the ground and fell on the mobile home. A volunteer fireman was injured when a tree fell on his truck near Ebensburg in Cambria County, and a girl had a leg broken by a falling tree at Kantz in Snyder County.Some wind reports included: 82 mph 2 west of Somerset, 77 mph at Schuylkill Haven, 74 mph in Shippensburg, 73 mph in Lancaster at TV-8. 68 mph was reported at Rock Springs west of State College, and 68 mph at the Penn State Meteorological Observatory; 67 mph at Emergency Management near Williamsport; 64 mph at Altoona Airport; 63 mph at Clearfield Airport; 61 mph in Lebanon; 69 mph at Johnstown Airport; and 59 mph in Pottsville.Trees and power lines were blown down in many locations across the region. Some homes had structural damage from trees, and a number of barns and outbuildings had roofs removed. A high school in Fannetsburg in Franklin County had a large part of the roof blown off the gymnasium. Fortunately, the damage occurred around 5:30 a.m. A roof was blown off an oil change station east of Bedford. The same station was destroyed by a small tornado in January of 1999. In Warren, United Refining had a 110-foot smoke stack blown over by the wind about 4:30 a.m. A mobile home was blown off its foundation and a barn collapsed in Somerset. A glass window was blown out of a hardware store in Galeton. A home lost a metal roof in Danville, and 2 homes and a mobile home had parts of roofs blown off in Columbia County. A roof was blown off a lumber yard building in Huntingdon and a rubber roof was pealed off a water treatment plant in York. Southeast of State College, a barn lost 1/3 of its roof on Route 45 and a 4-foot diamter Elm was blown down just north of the Penn State Campus. Winds also tore the roof from a house in New Berlin.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5167116. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.