F1 tornado in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

The same tornadic cell that devastated parts of Wyoming county moved eastward and crossed into northern Lackawanna county. It remained tornadic as it affected La Plume township around 1040 pm EDT. Significant tree damage occurred on the campus of Keystone Junior College as a couple of classroom buildings also sustained minor damage in the form of blown out windows and twisted gutters. The tornado pushed eastward from that point and crossed over Routes 6 and 11 before settling into southern portions of Lackawanna State Park in North Abington township. Large swaths of trees were either sheared off or cut down in sections of the park. The twister appeared to lift back into the cloud base just west of Abington Road in North Abington township as little in the way of damage was seen downstream of this location. The tornado's intensity was rated as F1 with a damage width of around 200 yards. Very fortunately, no injuries were sustained either on the college campus or within Lackawanna State Park.

For the second time in three days, significant severe weather including tornadoes affected northeastern Pennsylvania. The primary focusing mechanisms were a strong mid level shortwave and surface cold front that approached the region during the evening of the 2nd. Strongly veering wind profiles that increased with height contributed significantly to the development of tornadic supercells. Two long tracked supercells produced tornadic damage across northeastern Pennsylvania during this event. The first tornado touched down in southwestern Susquehanna county in Auburn towship just after 9 pm EDT. This tornado tracked along a 12 mile path through Springville and Lathrop townships. Several mobile homes were damaged or destroyed and the roof of a small storage building was torn away. The twister also cut down scores of trees along the way. Its intensity was rated as F1. Fortunately, no injuries resulted. The other twister tracked along approximately a 35 mile path from extreme southeastern Bradford county across the length of northern Wyoming county and into northwestern Lackawanna county before weakening. The most devastation occurred in the small vacation community of Lake Carey in Wyoming county. The tornado strengthened to F3 intensity at Lake Carey and killed two people and injured a total of fifteen. More than 40 homes immediately surrounding the lake were either heavily damaged or destroyed. Additional residences were damaged or leveled further to the east through East Lemon township in northern Wyoming county. Isolated structural damage and considerable tree damage was the rule from Terry township in Bradford county eastward to just west of Lake Carey and also from East Lemon township eastward to near Lackawanna State Park where the tornado finally dissipated. In all, over 50 homes were damaged or destroyed and total damage estimates in the three county area exceeded three million dollars. Other smaller scale bow echo complexes produced widespread wind damage in the form of downed trees and power lines primarily across the northern tier counties and sections of the Poconos. Portions of Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wayne counties were without power for most of the night as electrical crews could not keep up with reports of downed wires. The most severely damaged areas including the Lake Carey vicinity needed assistance from the National Gaurd to clean up excess debris and help with repairs. Much of northeastern Pennsylvania qualified for federal disaster assistance.