4 tornadoes confirmed in region
Damage assessment and cleanup continued Monday after powerful winds tore through the area.
By HALEN DAUGHERTY and JACK TROY TribLive
At least four recorded tornadoes touched down in Western Pennsylvania as part of Sunday’s severe weather.
The National Weather Service on Monday confirmed four EF-1 tornadoes, the second-lowest rating used by the organization. Three were in Westmoreland County. One traveled from Bear Rocks to Acme to Donegal, according to NWS meteorologist Mike Kennedy. Another from the same line of storms that spawned the Bear Rocks twister touched down southeast of Ligonier Borough. A third was confirmed in Ligonier Township.
NWS meteorologists also logged a tornado near Josephine in Indiana County.
Kennedy said two teams conducted tornado damage surveys. The first team was examining damage around Donegal, while the second team was surveying from Derry and Blairsville to Yellow Creek State Park. Analysts were returning to their office as of about 4:30 p.m., the NWS noted on social media.
EF-1 twisters produce an estimated 86- to 110-mph winds, “and we’re looking at the damage associated with those winds,” Kennedy said.
The storms were part of a severe weather system that spawned tornadoes and large hail across the Midwest over the weekend, killing at least 40 people in seven states. There were no reports of injuries locally.
Several counties, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Westmoreland, Fayette and southern Indiana, spent much of Sunday under severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings.
NWS Meteorologist Chris Leonardi said it’s not unusual for tornadoes to take place as close to each other as they did Sunday.
“This kind of system was a line of thunderstorms,” he said.
The last tornado in Westmoreland County was recorded last year on June 26. That day had five tornadoes in the region, according to the NWS, in areas near North Fayette, Trafford, Export and Delmont, plus parts of Greene County and Blairsville in Indiana County.
The Pittsburgh region saw a record 30 confirmed tornadoes last year.
“I will say, most likely, we’ll have a less active year because last year was so extraordinary,” Leonardi said. “They’re difficult to predict — they depend on smallscale weather features.”
Some residents experienced 60-mph winds and quarter-sized hail that punched through window screens and riddled vehicles with dents.
In Parks Township, powerful winds ripped off most of the roof and pried apart the block walls of a storage building at the former Uncle Charley’s Sausage plant in Parks Bend Industrial Park.
The structure contained around $100,000 worth of meat processing, packing and shipping equipment, according to Clayton Apo, a supervisor with the industrial asset firm that’s auctioning off Uncle Charley’s remaining equipment, Rabin Worldwide.
The main building, from where Uncle Charley’s maintenance supervisor Randy Braden watched the storm unfold, was unscathed.
“The doors were rattling,” he said. “The wind was extremely strong with a lot of Most police and fire officials who spoke with TribLive in the aftermath of the storm reported similar weather, but only a few downed trees in their towns.
NWS reported wind gusts reached the third-highest recorded speed at 89 mph, at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity on Sunday. The record is 94 mph in 1976.
Widespread power outages hit areas of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
Power crews are working to restore service to thousands across Southwestern Pennsylvania who had power cut off by high winds or downed trees.
Outage numbers decreased by noon on Monday. Duquesne Light reported 820 customers without power. West Penn Power reported 79 customers in Allegheny County without power, a little more than 3,200 customers without power in Westmoreland County and just over 5,800 customers without power in Fayette County.
Those numbers were as high as 2,031 for Duquesne Light on Monday morning and more than 10,000 for West Penn Power. Duquesne Light expected to have all of its customers restored by 6 p.m. Monday.
Multiple Fayette County schools including Albert Gallatin Area School District and Laurel Highlands School District were operating on a delayed schedule Monday morning.
Road closures
PennDOT reported the following area roads remained closed to traffic Monday afternoon because of downed utility wires and trees caught in wires: Westmoreland County:
• Route 711, from Gravel Hill Road to Route 271, in Ligonier Township.
• Midget Camp/Lockport Road, from Hypocrite Creek Road to Creek Road, in Fairfield Township.
• Pittsburgh Street/Keystone Park Road, from Route 981 in New Alexandria to Strawcutter Road in Derry Township.
• Two Mile Run Road, from Weller Road to Route 30, in Ligonier Township.
• Webster Hollow/Salem Church Road, from Fellsburg Road to Route 51, in Rostraver.
Fayette County:
• Jumonville Road/Coolspring Jumonville Road, from Old Braddock Road to Quarry Road, in North Union Township.
• York Run Road/Leckrone Highhouse Road, from Masontown Road in German Township to Walnut Hill Road in Georges Township.
• New Salem Road/Keeney Row Road, from Stoney Point Road to Kaider Road, in Menallen Township.
Some Lower Burrell residents had minor damage to their properties due to hail.
“It was violent and fast,” said Mayor Chris Fabry.
TribLive staff writers Kellen Stepler and Jeff Himler contributed.
