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EF2 tornado in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Tornado August 4, 2020 · Bucks County, Pennsylvania
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.
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 the National Weather Service wrote
After crossing back into Bucks County, the tornado, which may have lifted for a time, caused additional damage in the Southampton area of Bucks County. Numerous trees were snapped
in this area as well, with many homes and cars damaged due to
falling trees and tree limbs. The Sycamore Drive and Harding Roads
areas were hardest hit. The estimated wind speed in this area was
90 mph, equivalent to an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
Current evidence again suggests the tornado lifted one more time
as the parent circulation traveled to the Doylestown area, where
it touched down one final time near the Central Bucks West High
School. Here bleachers on the visitor's side of the athletic
field were picked up and tossed before the vortex moved on to the
Doylestown Hospital complex where at least six automobiles were
tossed some distance, and where substantial damage occurred to the
Children's Village Day Care center with no serious injuries
reported. Numerous trees were felled in and around the hospital
center, and several metal lamp posts were bent from the wind. The
estimated wind speed in this area was 115 mph, equivalent to a
low-end EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The tornado then
continued moving in a northwesterly direction, snapping and
falling trees, as well as causing damage to homes and other
properties, especially along and near Sandy Ridge Road, Jefferson
Avenue, and Lower State Road, before lifting along Ferry Road near
the Peace Valley Reservoir. The estimated wind speed in this area
was 100 mph, equivalent to an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
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 Belmont Hills (40.1284, -74.9990).
Other tornadoes from the same storm system
1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 926365. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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