High Wind — Perry, Pennsylvania

2003-11-13 · Perry, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front swept across central Pennsylvania during the early morning hours of November 13th, 2003. Strong winds behind the cold front intensified as low pressure deepened north of the region. Reports of trees and wires down were common across all of central Pennsylvania. Earliest damage reports began around 5 AM EST on the morning of the 13th, with the final high wind damage reports coming in around 17:00 EST. High wind speeds were mainly estimated based on reported damage.In addition to trees and wires being downed in the warned counties, additional damage reports included: A 71 mph wind gust was reported in Lancaster, Lancaster County at 5:28 AM EST, a barn blown over in Cambria County 5 miles east of Prince Gallitzin State Park at 13:15 EST, a roof blown off a home in Johnstown Pennsylvania at 12:00 EST, and three separate reports of roofs off homes in Franklin County. In addition, a roof of a state office building was damaged in Clearfield county, a vehicle repair facility in Snyder county was damaged, and a vacant building collapsed in Bedford county. Across all of Pennsylvania, more than 80,000 persons were without power from the high winds. One fatality occurred in Centre County, where a tree fell on a truck and killed the driver. Two other fatalities occurred in Perry County when a car struck a tree which had fallen across Route 233 in Madison Township.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5371814. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.