6 tornadoes confirmed in weekend storms
Six tornadoes touched down in Southwestern Pennsylvania on Saturday, including three in Washington County and two in Fayette County, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh has confirmed. The sixth tornado occurred in Westmoreland County.
The NWS said the tornadoes touched down near Ellsworth, Beallsville and Centerville in Washington County, Brownsville and Star Junction in Fayette County, and State Game Lands No. 296 in Westmoreland.
The tornadoes, along with straight-line winds that ranged between 60 and 80 miles per hour, tore through the region Saturday afternoon, causing a large swath of damage and knocking out power to thousands of people.
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, more than 3,470 customers were still without power, including 1,742 in Fayette County and 1,686 in Washington County.
The NWS released details of four tornadoes on Monday, and said further details on the Beallsville and Centerville tornadoes were expected to be released sometime Tuesday after survey teams complete their investigations.
The Ellsworth tornado started near Cokeburg, and after a brief lift it re-formed near Ellsworth, snapping and uprooting trees until it ended at Cross Ridge Road, covering a path of 7.2 miles.
The tornado was rated an EF-1, with peak winds estimated at 110 mph.
In Fayette County, two EF-1 tornadoes touched down. The first touched down in Linn at about 2:50 p.m., with peak winds estimated at 100 mph as it traveled about a half-mile, downing several trees before it ended.
Minutes later, a tornado with peak winds of 90 mph touched down near Reservoir Road, just east-southeast of Star Junction, and traveled 5.1 miles, lifting and reforming several times before it ended north of Vanderbilt about five minutes later, according to NWS.
Another EF-1 tornado started at the northern border of Fayette County, snapping and uprooting several large trees on its 5.2-mile path before it dissipated in Westmoreland County. Winds peaked at 107 mph, the NWS said.
According to West Penn Power, 100 utility poles were broken during the storms. The company had more than than 2,600 line workers, including out-of-state crews working around the clock in 16‑hour shifts to restore service, and helicopter patrols surveyed damage to help pinpoint hard-hit areas to speed up repairs.
Nanette George of Coal Center, near California Borough, was trapped on her rural property until late Monday night, when a Verizon crew cleared a utility line that had fallen across the road that leads to their home. A large tree also blocked the road.
“We were literally stuck here. No one could come in or leave our property. This made us quite uneasy – if either of us would have had a medical emergency, an ambulance would not have been able to get to us. We would not have been able to drive ourselves,” said George.
The couple has a small gas generator that runs the refrigerator and microwave, and they have been plugging in a lamp at night.
Mike Santore who lives about a mile from the Centerville grounds of the National Pike Steam, Gas and Horse Association, wrote in a Facebook post on the NWS page, “I have approximately 75 to 100 trees down in the vicinity of my house. I have trees snapped off 40 feet high to 20 feet high and uprooted, all (lying) in the same direction on both sides of my house for about 100 yards.”
In Ellsworth, EMA coordinator Tom Pysh said he planned to meet with the fire department and mayor on Thursday to assess cleanup efforts. He said some residents remained without power as of Tuesday morning, but all roads had been cleared of debris and reopened.
“It’s kind of crazy – you can see where (the tornado) came through. There are trees topped off and you can see the path. There are more trees knocked down than I’ve ever seen,” said Pysh, noting property damage included damaged roofs and cars.
The weather service issued multiple severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings across Southwestern Pennsylvania Saturday, as radar detected rotation amid the line of storms.
NWS Pittsburgh meteorologist Alicia Miller was on a crew that investigated two tornado sites, including one in Beallsville.
“When we’re in our offices utilizing our radar to make warnings, that’s one thing; it’s another thing to see the damage,” said Miller.
Since 1950, a total of 18 tornadoes have been recorded in Washington County, Miller said. In Fayette County, 17 tornadoes have touched down during that span, and seven have been recorded in Greene County.
There were three tornadoes Washington County in May 2025, and two in Fayette County, both in March. In 2024, the NWS recorded there tornadoes in Washington County, two in Fayette County, and one in Greene County.
“One thing that’s happening is the technology to detect tornadoes has improved. We’ve made slight improvements to radar to detect these smaller, short-lived tornadoes. In the case of the tornadoes that happened Saturday, they were small spin-outs from straight-line winds that we were able to detect a little better because of advancements made in the last decade,” said Miller. “And the availability of smartphones – everybody has one, everybody can record footage – has probably led to detection of tornadoes that radar can’t see.”
Roy Shipley, director of Fayette County Department of Emergency Management, said the 911 dispatch center was flooded with calls after the storms, handling more than 1,000 calls from the time the storms hit through midnight.
He said 20,000 customers were without power at the peak of the power outage.
“It’s been really crazy weather,” said Shipley. “With this weather pattern, we’ve got to prepare for it and do everything we can to get the warnings out. When you have fast-moving storms, getting those warnings out to people is crucial.”
He encouraged county residents to register for the county’s mass notification system, which sends emergency alerts and severe weather warnings through text messages, emails, and phone calls. Residents can sign up via the county’s website, fayettecountypa.org.
George said she was cleaning out her RV in preparation for a camping trip when she received the tornado warning on her phone, but kept cleaning the vehicle.
“The wind picked up and a gust rocked the RV. I hunkered down between the couch and the chair to feel safe and hung out until it passed,” she said in a message. “I must say, it scared me a bit and next time I will heed the warning I get on my phone.”