Weather service: Tornado likely hit Fayette County
The National Weather Service has determined that a tornado with a wind speed of up to 100 mph likely moved through Fayette County during Thursday’s severe weather.
The weather service sent out survey crews Friday morning and, based on preliminary information, said that a twister touched down in Saltlick Township.
Meteorologist Jason Frazier said the weather service received reports about potential tornado touchdowns in Saltlick around 2 p.m. Friday and in Indiana County between 5 and 6 p.m. Tornadoes also may have touched down in Cambria County and in Jefferson County, Ohio, around the same time Thursday evening, he added.
“We’re basically trying to get a couple of high probability locations [Friday],” Mr. Frazier said Friday morning. “We may not get to all the potential sites we want to survey just today, but we’ll do that in the following days. Our plans are to be heading out to Fayette County, as well as locations in Ohio.”
Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV reported that a tornado touched down in Wintersville, Ohio, on Thursday night, damaging 25 structures.
Mr. Frazier said the weather service usually assesses damage to buildings as part of its surveying efforts.
“There does appear to be, in Fayette County, near Saltlick Township, a lot of trees that were snapped or uprooted, damage to some various outbuildings, a barn out that way,” he said.
The weather service has not received any reports of injuries from the storms.
Mr. Frazier reminded people to stay safe during and after any potential tornadoes.
“We asked people to just not try to be their own storm surveyors,” he said. “Stay out of these areas, because there could be power lines down, roads blocked, things of that nature, so please take caution and allow the professionals to do the surveying themselves.”
A small tornado spawned by a storm that blew through the Erie region early Thursday afternoon damaged buildings and toppled a tractor-trailer during a brief touch-down near Cochranton in Crawford County, according to the National Weather Service inCleveland.
Eyewitness information could indicate that a pair of funnel clouds touched down, Cochranton’s fire chief said.
Weather service officials in Cleveland reported Thursdaythat a preliminary assessment estimates that an EF-0 tornado touched down Thursday around 12:40
p.m. along Fowler Road northwest of Route 173 and tracked southeast. Its path was about one-third of a mile long and about 75 yards wide, according to the statement.
An EF-0 tornado is classified as weak, with wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph.