Tornado of July 1, 1999

An isolated, small supercell thunderstorm developed in Clinton county during the late afternoon... and tracked northeast for over 60 miles before dissipating. The actual thunderstorm developed even farther southwest than Clinton county... in Clearfield county... earlier in the afternoon... but only started to show supercell characteristics in Clinton county. At 5:48 pm, the Storm Information Table (SIT) overlaid on the reflectivity data indicated not only the presence of a mesocyclone within that thunderstorm near the Clinton/Lycoming county border... but also a Tornado Vortex Signature (TVS)! This shows a more persistent and tight rotation within the thunderstorm... and indicates a strong likelihood of a tornado. Very large hail was not a threat with this storm... and you'll note on the SIT data that radar indicated a max DBZ of just 58 at that time, located in an elevated layer around 19K feet.

At 6:38 pm, the SIT still indicated a mesocyclone and TVS. When the storm was on the Lycoming/Sullivan county line... echo tops data at 7:17 pm showed the storm extended very high into the atmosphere. Also, SIT data from same time shows the storm still contained a mesocyclone but radar did not detect a TVS any longer. Don't let that be deceiving though, as the storm was beginning to produce a tornado at this time. Reflectivity data at 7:22 pm showed the storm. It doesn't look that intense here... but a tornado was on the ground now in northwest Sullivan county with this rotating thunderstorm. A few minutes later, at 7:28 pm, about when the tornado was lifting back into the thunderstorm... the Storm Relative Mean Radial Velocity (different than the Base Velocity) showed good rotation with this mini-supercell. It can be seen much better by a zoomed-in view.

The tornado touched down in northwest Sullivan county near the Fox/Elkland township line... and tracked northeast for approximately 5 miles. Exact length from the starting point is nearly impossible to determine because of the very remote, forested area that it initially touched down in. Width was around (or a bit over) 600 feet (about an 1/8 mile). This tornado was spotted by a few people... and it may have had multiple vortexes (despite how rare that is with "weak" tornadoes)... indicated per both visual reports and damage surveys.

Specifically, the tornado touched down about 1.5 miles northwest of the village of Lincoln Falls... just south/west of State Route 154 in Elkland township, about a 1/2 mile from the Fox township line. It crossed quickly over SR 154... snapping and uprooting dozens of trees, many large, along the road and to either side. For a few example, see pictures one, two, and three. The tornado tracked east-northeast for about a 1/2 mile down a hill into a valley with a creek, and then up the other side of the hill... taking down a swath of trees. As it reached the top of the hill, it crossed McCarthy Ridge Road (TR 424). This is where the most extensive damage occurred, and will be described below with numerous pictures I took when doing the survey.

Most damage was from the corner of McCarthy Ridge Road and SR 4008 southward for a little over a 1/4 mile down the road. Along and to either side of McCarthy Ridge Road, many trees were downed (such as these)... small and large.

At one home, a part of the roof was blown off. That section was covered with a blue tarp when I arrived there the next morning after the storm to do the survey. At a nearby home, a porch was blown completely off the side of the house... with its debris scattered across the lawn. Even across the road, pieces of debris was seen... including part of a wooden chair which was destroyed as it flew through the air. Also at this home, debris hit a pickup truck... knocking out windows and denting it.

At the home of Jim Rinker roughly about 1000 feet away, considerable damage was done to his property... which got the brunt of the tornado. Numerous (most) apple trees at his apple orchard were snapped or pushed over; see pics one and two. Hundreds, if not thousands, of apples were made airborne and thrown across his large yard, outside of the apple orchard. In some areas, the ground was completely covered with apples (in other areas there was just a few). In addition, numerous other trees on his property were snapped or uprooted. One large Colorado Spruce that was uprooted in the front lawn was lifted by a crane to be moved. Another large tree (a few feet in diameter!) was snapped like a toothpick... the two men in the picture are trying to cut it into pieces. Parts of trees and sheet metal debris were seen across his yard.

His relatively old, very well built house suffered structural damage. As Jim and his wife ran downstairs as the tornado was approaching, he felt and heard the house shift. Sure enough, it did. Windows and doors bind as you try to open/close them, as the whole frame structure of the house was twisted... not noticeable just from taking a glance at the house. In addition, several pieces of asphalt roofing shingles were ripped off his roof, and could be seen scattered across the area. A large, sturdy, TV antenna was also ripped off and came to lay by the side of the house. Two windows were broken, either from the wind or flying debris, and a couple pieces of aluminum siding were ripped off. There were several dents and gouges in the siding around the house... made by flying debris. One piece of wood that was airborne was embedded into another piece of wood just under the roof of his porch!!

His house was about the only thing that is salvageable out of his entire property. He lost many of his trees, apple or otherwise, and two other large structures were wiped out. The first was a very large barn which was demolished (see pictures one, two, three, and four). A couple large chunks of the roof were thrown several feet TO the north. Numerous other pieces were thrown in other directions, including across the street. A pickup truck cap was thrown down the road and cracked (read: destroyed).

The second structure belonging to Jim that was destroyed was a sawmill across the street from the house and barn. The long roof of the sawmill, consisting of wood rafters and sheet metal roofing, was lifted off the structure in one piece and flung approximately 15 feet TO the northwest, FROM the southeast. For the most part, the roof looked relatively undamaged... just lifted off the top of the building, turned at a 90 degree angle, and set down. This indicates that the roof was poorly anchored to the walls. The wind was so forceful, a small piece of wood was embedded about 2 inches into the ground! Planks of wood that were being worked on at the mill were thrown numerous feet away. Pieces of sheet metal were thrown to the northwest into a field, with one piece wrapping around a wood post. Several trees nearby were snapped or uprooted... such as this one snapped halfway up. Parts of the walls fell over, and windows were broken on the structure... with plenty of glass and broken window frames scattered across the area. Here is what's left of the structure... portions of a couple leaning walls. After seeing the many pieces of ragged glass and lumber thrown all over, it is very fortunate that nobody was there at the time - serious injury or death was inevitable.

A short distance away at the next yard, numerous trees (see this pic, for a small example), small and large, were downed on the property, and a wood post was snapped. Although I did not inspect this house as closely as the others, damage was not visible... and I did not get a report of any. Twisted, bent, and torn sheet metal was seen nearby.. originating from another yard.

Across and just up the street... a barn was damaged. A portion of its sheet metal roofing was peeled up... and part of the actual wood frame roof structure began to lift up.

At yet another yard a short distance away, a mobile home suffered some damage, along with the rest of the yard. The mobile home was shifted a bit on its foundation, and an antenna on the roof was bent. Also, a piece of flying sheet metal was wrapped around it. A number of windows on the back of the mobile home were blown in, including the glass on a door, as well as a wall pushed in. A camping trailer several yards south of the mobile home was rolled north into it. As it was repeatedly rolled over and over... it was subsequently destroyed. In the backyard, a small shed was destroyed and an addition type structure on the back of the mobile home was lifted, twisted and destroyed. Several large trees were snapped or uprooted. Some trees were already cut up... leaving a pile of logs. Over a large section of the backyard... you couldn't see the ground as it was covered with leaves and branches. One large Colorado Spruce in particular was partially pushed over from the southeast... now leaning to the northwest. Several feet away... a tall metal pole was bent to the ground.

A fairly new, but vacant, house across and down the street a short distance was another victim of the tornado. The glass in the front door was blown in, an entire window and frame on the side of the house was gone, a number of pieces of siding blown off, and a section of roofing was ripped off.

Also along the road, a number of utility poles were snapped, with power lines and transformers down. Two steel mailboxes, side by side, were bent halfway to the ground. Two street signs just up the road at the corner of TR 424 and TR 411 were twisted.

The tornado continued east-northeast, and crossed over SR 4008 at the corner of where McCarthy Ridge Road continues north. It appeared to weaken as it did so, with winds of 60-68 mph (at best) here. Along SR 4008, a house received minor damage. This consisted of a number of pieces of siding ripped off and the screen in a door blown out. In the front yard, a wood post was pushed over. Across the street from the house, at the corner, a stop sign was blown to the ground. Several feet away... a tree was uprooted... and small pieces of house debris was seen in the brush alongside the road. A few other trees were seen snapped or pushed over a short distance away.

The tornado continued on its east-northeast track through the rest of northern Elkland township... crossing over SR 4016 just west of the village of Hugo Corners. A minute later, it entered Bradford county in Overton township near Bailey Road. It traveled a few more miles in Bradford county and then finally dissipated... but not before hitting portions of Overton, Cahill, Broshart, Marshall, and Junks Pond Roads. This area is very rural... made up of forest, some cabins, and the occasional home. One cabin was damaged by falling trees on Cahill Road. A house was barely missed, by only several hundred feet, on Marshall Road, along with a cabin on Junks Pond Road. Across this area of Overton township in southern Bradford county, the tornado snapped and uprooted several dozen trees and what power lines there were. Maximum wind speeds were probably not much more than 70 mph in that area.

This tornado was rated an F1... since tornadoes (and downbursts) and rated for their maximum damage seen anywhere along the path. The entire path does not have to have that strength damage. Peak winds with this tornado were likely around or just above 90 mph (a solid F1)... but as low as 60 mph in some spots (mainly toward the end of the path). I plotted on a map the tornado path which you can see here. The thick black line shows (approximately) the tornado's path... from about southwest to northeast.

Of note, this tornado had a large amount of flying debris, small and large pieces of wood, roofs, apples, tree limbs, sheet metal, glass, etc. It is very fortunate that nobody was outside... in fact everyone I talked to knew about the tornado warning and was taking shelter. This tornado had a high potential of causing several serious injuries and deaths. For instance, if someone was in the sawmill or large barn that were destroyed... the results would have been tragic. Large amounts of people believe that F1 strength tornadoes are not that bad. And while that is correct in that they don't destroy/flatten entire towns... F1's DO injure and kill people... and cause plenty of damage each year. F1's do indeed hurl 2x4's and trees through houses... and can fill the air with copious amounts of deadly flying debris if it moves over an area like the one described on this page did.

Go here for a complete listing of all images/text available for this event.