F3 Tornado — Potter, Pennsylvania

2003-07-21 · near Ellisburg, Potter, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A team from the National Weather Service office in State College surveyed damage and interviewed residents and emergency management officials in Potter county. The team determined that an F3 tornado touched down in Potter county around 4:00 pm Monday July 21 2003. The tornado first touched down about 2 miles southwest of the town of Ellisburg...where it downed hundreds of trees. The tornado continued to the northeast...where it hit the Smoker Farm. The barn and house were completely destroyed...and one of three silos was tipped over. A second home on Smoker Road was also extensively damaged and is uninhabitable. In addition...a car was picked up and thrown 600 yards. A farm tractor was lifted into the trees. The tornado path was 2 1/2 miles long...while the width was about 200 yards. Based on the damage...the tornado was mainly an F2...but rated as a weak F3 at its peak with winds of 160 mph. There were two injuries, but no deaths.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.9167, -77.9333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5367628. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.