EF2 tornado in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Tornado August 4, 2020 · Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

EF2

Rating

20.8 mi

Whole path

500 yd

Path width

Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Bucks County → Philadelphia County → Bucks County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

After crossing into Philadelphia County, the tornado continued moving northwest through the Philadelphia Mills Mall and then to Knights Road and Medford Road toward Dunks Ferry Road. Three exhaust

systems and 6 RTU systems were blown off the roof in less than 15

seconds at the former Walmart Store currently undergoing

reconstruction, and numerous trees, some close to 100 years old,

were snapped or blown over along Knights Road, Medford Road, and

Dunks Ferry Road. Roofs, siding, and awnings were blown off many

homes in the area. A few cars were also tossed or turned over as

the storm moved through. The estimated wind speed in this area was

100 mph, equivalent to EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The tornado may have briefly lifted as it continued northwestward and prepared to cross into Bucks County for a second time.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Isaias brought high winds, heavy rain, several tornadoes, and coastal flooding to the mid-Atlantic region, becoming the most impactful tropical cyclone to impact most of the region since Sandy in 2012. Flash flooding as a result of heavy rain caused two direct deaths from this event...one in Lehigh County and the other in Montgomery County.

Began near Torresdale (40.0822, -74.9599).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Montgomery County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 926364. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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