Second tornado confirmed in Washington County from May 21 storm
Twister touched down near Cross Creek County Park
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Ron Swope was bottling honey last week when the “honey house” he was in began violenting creaking, prompting him to run toward his nearby home and take cover in the basement.
Having been through a tornado just three-and-a-half years earlier that caused widespread damage to Swope’s Berries & Bees farm in Hopewell Township, Swope wasn’t taking any chances as the wind howled and rain blew in sideways during the May 21 storm.
“I lived through one of them and didn’t want to live through another. It was quite vicious,” Swope said of last week’s storm. “It didn’t last long, but it was quite vicious. Buildings creak when it’s windy, but that sound was different.”
But unlike the Oct. 21, 2021, tornado that destroyed 40 beehives, tore out chunks of raspberry and blueberry crops and demolished a shed that housed their farm equipment, this recent storm caused only minor damage to trees and some crops on the farm he and his wife, Kathy, own.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh confirmed Tuesday that the storm system that produced an EF-1 tornado in central Washington County on May 21 produced a weaker tornado that touched down a few minutes earlier just east of Cross Creek County Park and traveled a couple of miles. That EF-0 tornado, which produced 65 mph winds, damaged trees and peeled back part of a home’s fascia along Willow Road. The circulation weakened and then reformed again near Houston, tracking more than 14 miles west to Finleyville.
“This was likely part of the same circulation that weakened considerably … and then re- intensified,” NWS meteorologist Matthew Kramer said. “That’s why they’re two separate tornadoes at this point.”
Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said Wednesday that some downed trees had to be removed from Cross Creek County Park near West Middletown, but no buildings or property at the park were damaged.
“There’s been no damage reported to Cross Creek,” Sherman said.
The confirmation of a second tornado in Washington County that day brings the total of 10 twisters in Western Pennsylvania this season, which is already well above the six this region averages each year. Kramer said the number of storms hitting the region now, coupled with better technology to track tornadoes and the advent of cellphones for people to easily document them and report damage to weather officials, makes it seem like more are hitting the area nowadays.
“There is at least a part of the record that is increasing by people seeing and reporting them. Some things that might have been just (considered) straight line winds before,” Kramer said. “We’re seeing and identifying the existence of tornadoes that might not have been identified in the past because of the technology to observe and report them wasn’t around 30 or 40 years ago. But it does seem active and has been active for sure.”
As for another tornado wobbling near Swope’s farm again, Kramer said it’s not too unusual for the same places to be hit again.
“It’s surprisingly more common than it seems that it should be,” Kramer said. “It’s shocking to me that the same location would get hit again, but it’s more common than you think it would be.”
That’s why Swope said he wasn’t taking any chances and took cover when last week’s storm appeared to be more violent than usual.
“It is bizarre. We take those warnings a little more seriously now than we used to,” Swope said. “It was not your normal wind storm. We came through this one pretty well. We were fortunate.”