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EF2 tornado in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Tornado August 4, 2020 · Bucks County, Pennsylvania

EF2
Rating
20.8 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
18
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 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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