Another round of severe weather moved through the region Thursday evening, spawning tornado warnings in Stroudsburg and across the Delaware River in Warren County.
No actual tornado came of it this time. But on Thursday meteorologists confirmed one did hit during storms last weekend in Bucks County — and it was something of a milestone for Pennsylvania.
It touched down for about a minute on Sunday night, May 19, at a campground in Tinicum Township, about a 30-minute drive south from Easton on Route 611. The tornado was 100 yards wide at its maximum and traveled about a quarter of a mile. Dozens of trees were uprooted and some damaged camping trailers, according to the findings released Thursday by the National Weather Service.
The Bucks County twister, with another the same night in Lancaster County, brought the total number of 2019 Pennsylvania tornadoes to 16.
Sixteen: That’s how many Pennsylvania on average will see over an entire year, according to meteorologists in the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly, New Jersey, office.
And it’s still early. Most Pennsylvania tornadoes usually occur in June or July, but this season got a head start with at least a dozen reported statewide in April alone.
The Lehigh Valley has recorded 28 tornadoes since 1950.
The most recent in Lehigh, Northampton or Warren counties was in July 2018, when one 20 yards across with 65 mph winds skipped through a cornfield in Heidelberg Township.
By Steve Novak (2019, May 24) lehighvalleylive.com
