Just how gloomy is Pittsburgh, some cherry-picked data... (Washington, Beaver Falls: tornado, station)

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

Likewise, there's an infinitesimal chance of losing your home and all your worldly possesions to the wind--we'll get a tornado once in a blue moon, but if I recall correctly, Pennsylvania as a whole has never had one stronger than an F-3. No hurricanes either.

May 31, 1985, Wheatland and Atlantic, PA.

May 31, 1985 Tornado Pictures and Video of Newton Falls, Ohio and Niles, Ohio

F-5 hit Wheatland.
F-4 hit Atlantic.

Both towns took direct hits and were virtually wiped off the map. Only because of the people who lived in these and neighboring towns do they still exist today.

I was a student at The University of Pittsburgh during the Summer of 1998 when an F-1 tornado hit Mt. Washington. I was in class near the top of The Cathedral of Learning and witnessed the entire thing.

We may not get direct hits from hurricanes, but we most definitely get the remnants on a rare occasion. Anyone remember Ivan and Ike?

[ditchdigger]

Well, I did say, "but if I recall correctly". Obviously I recall incorrectly. If I recall correctly, that's never happening before....

(Damn, I hate when that happens.)

At any rate, tornados at all are quite rare, and strong ones even rarer.

I was a student at The University of Pittsburgh during the Summer of 1998 when an F-1 tornado hit Mt. Washington. I was in class near the top of The Cathedral of Learning and witnessed the entire thing.

I was working on Mt Washington that day. As I was finishing up, the builder told me that we were under a severe thunderstorm watch. When I got in my truck, I turned on the weather radio, and immediatly heard the tornado warning for some localities to the north and west of where I was. I thought, "Hmmm. I've never seen a tornado, and here I am on the edge of Mt Washington with a great view. I think I'll stay here and watch for a while." After about ten minutes, I gave up, and drove home through a soft summer rain. About ten minutes after I'd left, the tornado came through, and leveled the woods 150 feet down the hill from where I'd been standing.

We may not get direct hits from hurricanes, but we most definitely get the remnants on a rare occasion. Anyone remember Ivan and Ike?

Yep, and I lost a pickup truck in the flooding following Ivan. As I posted above, flash floods are a problem, and there are spots where inevitably, they'll happen every now and again. During Ivan, everywhere that ever flooded, got flooded again.

But, those things are still the exception to the rule, and they're so memorable exactly because they are so rare.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by dugdogmaster

We may not get direct hits from hurricanes, but we most definitely get the remnants on a rare occasion. Anyone remember Ivan and Ike?

As a kid growing up there, I remember that being more frequent than "a rare occasion". I seem to remember that happening almost every year, with heavy rainstorms from the hurricanes.

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by dugdogmaster

May 31, 1985, Wheatland and Atlantic, PA.

May 31, 1985 Tornado Pictures and Video of Newton Falls, Ohio and Niles, Ohio

F-5 hit Wheatland.
F-4 hit Atlantic.

Both towns took direct hits and were virtually wiped off the map. Only because of the people who lived in these and neighboring towns do they still exist today.

I was a student at The University of Pittsburgh during the Summer of 1998 when an F-1 tornado hit Mt. Washington. I was in class near the top of The Cathedral of Learning and witnessed the entire thing.

We may not get direct hits from hurricanes, but we most definitely get the remnants on a rare occasion. Anyone remember Ivan and Ike?

I immediately thought about the 85 tornado when i saw that comment! I thought it crossed from my side of the border to yours!

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by CortlandGirl79

I immediately thought about the 85 tornado when i saw that comment! I thought it crossed from my side of the border to yours!

It did, the tornado outbreak that day started in central Ohio and worked its way to central PA, western upstate NY and lower Ontario, Canada. The official count is 43 tornadoes touching down that day, in that large region.

1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[greg42]

Originally Posted by dugdogmaster

I was a student at The University of Pittsburgh during the Summer of 1998 when an F-1 tornado hit Mt. Washington. I was in class near the top of The Cathedral of Learning and witnessed the entire thing.

I actually lived in Mt Washington when the tornado hit. It damaged some buildings less than a block away from mine. I was not home at the time, luckily, that would have been seriously crazy. But we did watch from over here in downtown. We were kinda thinking the formation looked like a tornado, but it seemed so unlikely. Then they mentioned it on the radio.

It sure was a trick trying to get home later that night. I don't know if I worked late, went out somewhere, or went home in the daylight and left again then came back, but it was dark when I was trying to get up there when all the roads were blocked. The only road open was one I had never used before that came up to the Duquesne Heights side from the back. The power was out in a significant area (including Grandview on the Mon Incline end), and the cops only allowed residents in. Really eerie at the house. I didn't sleep there that first night. I think they may have gotten the power on by the next day.

[Hopes]

That was more like Mt. Washington got in the way than the tornado actually touching down.

[ditchdigger]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That was more like Mt. Washington got in the way than the tornado actually touching down.

No. Mt Washington's damage was probably the best reported, but the tornado's path was 32 miles long, as reported by the NWS:

-ALLEGHENY/WESTMORELAND COUNTY PAA TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY AT 555 PM EDT.THIS TORNADO WAS ALSO CLASSIFIED AS AN F1 STORM WITH WINDS REACHINGAS HIGH AS 110 MPH. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTHWEST OFCARNEGIE AND TRAVELED A DISTANCE OF APPROXIMATELY 32 MILES INTOWESTMORELAND COUNTY BEFORE DISSIPATING AROUND 628 PM EDT. THEREWERE AT LEAST 50 INJURIES REPORTED. FORTUNATELY...THESE INJURIES WERERELATIVELY MINOR. SOME OF THE TOWNS AFFECTED WERE INCLUDE CARNEGIE...MOUNT WASHINGTON...HAZELWOOD...IRWIN AND MANOR. THE DAMAGE WIDTHVARIED FROM 200 YARDS TO AS WIDE AS 800 YARDS. THIS TORNADO AFFECTEDHUNDREDS OF HOMES AND SOME BUSINESSES WITH AT SOME STRUCTURALDAMAGE (ROOFS, SIDING, SHINGLES, CHIMNEYS ETC). IN ADDITION, ALARGE NUMBER OF TREES WERE UPROOTED/SNAPPED ALONG ITS PATH.

Source: June 1998 Tornado Outbreak

[Hopes]

The one described in your post above is a different tornado for that day. Mt. Washington isn't between Carnegie and Westmoreland County.

I remember watching it on the news before it hit Mt. Washington. It hadn't touched down. It literally ran into Mt. Washington. Where it went afterwards doesn't change that fact.

If it's the same tornado, the article might be an inaccurate description of the path.

That tornado that hit Mt. Washington was coming across the Ohio Valley and hadn't touched down before it hit Mt. Washington.

There was video. The news station had a clear direct line view of the tornado hanging in the sky above the rivers before it ran into Mt. Washington.

[Tinare]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Mt. Washington isn't between Carnegie and Westmoreland County.

It's not? Carnegie is west of Mt. Washington which is west of Westmoreland County. Look at the map in the link in ditchdigger's post that shows the path of the tornado. It's the National Weather Service's site about the tornado activity that day.