A tornado is verified in Schuylkill County, with peak winds of 90 mph
A roof was ripped off a high school, the weather service reported.
An EF1 tornado with peak winds of 90 mph touched down Monday night in Schuylkill County, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, damaging an elementary school building and several houses, the National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday.
It lasted all of six minutes, starting at 7:38 p.m. just west of Mahanoy City, said the weather service office in State College, and spun into the town along a 1.5-mile long path, 75 yards wide. Along the way, it uprooted trees and tossed roof shingles and wooden debris into the air.
Along with damaging houses, it knocked out windows in the school building.
No details of damage was immediately available, and no injuries were reported. However, according to a weather service storm report time-stamped 7:42 p.m., a roof was ripped off a high school at Mahanoy City.
A weather service survey team confirmed that the winds were generated by a tornado.
Neither a high school roof nor a tree cares much about whether a damaging wind blows in a straight line or circle, but documenting the difference is of scientific importance, meteorologists say. For one thing, it can verify the accuracy of what radar was showing.
Numerous tornado warnings are based on radar signatures.
Schuylkill County isn’t anywhere near Tornado Alley, but it does on occasion receive visits from tornadoes.
This is the 16th verified twister in the county since 1950, according to the weather service. Of those, three others have occurred in May.