F1 Tornado — Mckean, Pennsylvania

2003-07-21 · near Mt Jewett, Mckean, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A team from the National Weather Service office in State College surveyed damage and interviewed residents and emergency management officials in McKean county. The team determined that an F1 tornado touched down in McKean county between 315 pm and 330 pm local time on July 21st 2003.The thunderstorm which spawned the tornado first started producing downburst wind damage 2 miles west of the town of Kane. It continued to the Northeast for 15 miles...before the tornado itself touched down 1 mile west of the Kinzua Viaduct in a wooded area. The tornado continued northeast, producing a damage path 3 1/2 miles long, and about 1/3 mile wide. Winds were estimated at 100 mph, which classifies the tornado as an F1 on the Fujita scale. The tornado caused the collapse of the historic Kinzua Viaduct Bridge. Nine of the 20 bridge supports were destroyed...leading to the collapse of the bridge. One employee of the Kinzua Bridge State Park was injured during the collaspe of the bridge. Thousands of trees were also downed along the path of the tornado.The Kinzua Bridge, constructed in 1882, was listed as one of Pennsylvania's 10 most endangered historic properties. The viaduct, at 301 feet high and 2053 feet long was the fourth largest in the nation. The bridge which once was capable of holding the 511 ton "Big Boy", the largest steam engine in the world, was closed to rail traffic in June of 2002 after inspection by the DCNR showed significant structural weakening.. Later, in August 2002, the bridge was closed to pedestrian traffic as well. The Kinzua Bridge was in the midst of a 10.8 million dollar restoration project which began in February 2003.The tornado then lifted up about 2 1/2 miles northeast of the bridge. Downburst wind damage continued to about 2 miles north of Smethport, where the tornado once again touched down. The tornado continued on a north-northeast path until it lifted again about 1 mile north of Farmers Valley, near the intersections of routes 46 and 446. Top wind speeds during the second touchdown were estimated at 80 to 90 mph, again classifying the storm as an F1 in intensity. The path of the second touchdown was about 3 miles long, with a width of about 150 yards.This second touchdown damaged 2 barns...and destroyed a third. Two homes and a church were also damaged. No injuries or deaths were reported.On August 6th, Governor Edward G. Rendell signed a Proclamation of Disaster Emergency to support recovery efforts in several northwestern Pennsylvania counties including McKean. Aslo, a request was made for a Presidential Declaration for a Major Disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, specifically requesting the implementation of the Public Assistance Grant Program.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7667, -78.6167)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5367627. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.