Video shows tornado in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania after warning issued in Schuylkill County
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Video captured a tornado spinning in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, Monday as severe weather moved across the state and lead to multiple tornado warnings in Schuylkill and Lancaster counties.
Staff from the National Weather Service's State College office confirmed an EF-1 tornado with winds up to 90 mph touched down in Mahanoy City, a town in Schuylkill County about 40 minutes south of Wilkes-Barre, after surveying the storm damage Tuesday.
The tornado had a path 75 yards wide that stretched about a mile and a half. It was only on the ground for six minutes but uprooted several trees and damaged the siding and roofs of homes in the area.
Video from Cheryl Breznik taken at a Redner's gas station in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, shows the tornado off to the east, where Mahanoy is located.
Schools in the Mahanoy Area School District were closed Tuesday and preliminary storm damage reports from the NWS said the Mahanoy high school had damage to its roof.
There were no reports of injuries related to the tornado.
Then in Rothville, Lancaster County, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning just before 8:30 p.m. after radar instruments observed rotation in a severe thunderstorm over the area. The warning extended to towns like Akron, Ephrata, Leola and New Holland.
NWS said residents in Lititz, Pennsylvania posted images of a possible funnel cloud on social media.
The National Weather Service had not announced plans to conduct any damage survey in Lancaster County.
The severe storms that hit Pennsylvania on Monday came as severe weather spread across the nation over Memorial Day weekend, spawning multiple tornadoes across Texas and Oklahoma and killing 23 people nationwide.
Texas remained under severe weather risk on Tuesday with multiple severe thunderstorm warnings in place while skies were clearing in Pennsylvania.