GALLITZIN, Pa. (WJAC) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Cambria County last week.
NWS officials surveyed the area Tuesday and determined that a tornado touched down at 8:44 p.m. June 13 in Gallitzin Township along Syberton Road.
The NWS can determine what happened by cross-referencing the tree damage pattern with radar data collected during the event.
“We were looking for the tree damage and how those trees were laying,” said NWS meteorologist Michael Colbert. “If they were all laying in one direction, that was probably going to be straight line winds. In this case, we did see trees that were laying in different directions, some were convergent, some were divergent, others just looked like they were chaotic, in a chaotic pattern, so that certainly suggests more of a twisting in the atmosphere”
Officials said wind speeds reached 90 miles per hour, snapping and uprooting trees in its path.
The tornado was 150 yards wide and was on the ground for 1/4 mile.
No buildings were damaged and no injuries were reported.
The property owner was about to go camping with her family on their property before the alert on their phones and the strong winds made them think twice.
“If we would not have gotten the alert, we would have went camping, and there was significant damage right at our campsite, so we’re pretty lucky that we did receive the iPhone alert,” said property owner Rachel Buck.
by Matthew Stevens and Nathan Hopper (2018, June 19) WJAC
