Tornado confirmed in Pittsburgh's eastern neighborhoods
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A tornado touched down in Pittsburgh's eastern neighborhoods on Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed.
A weak EF-0 tornado with winds peaking at 70 mph started in Highland Park at 5 p.m. and went through the Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood, lasting roughly two minutes, the NWS said.
The last time a tornado happened in Southwestern Pennsylvania in November was in 2017, according to First Alert Meteorologist Ray Petelin. It's the fourth November tornado on record for the area.
This also makes it the most active tornado season for the National Weather Services' Pittsburgh office.
"This would be tornado number 30, so that would make this also, at least for our county warning area, the most active tornado year on record," said NWS meteorologist Colton Milcarek.
Milcarek and fellow meteorologist Matthew Kramar were out on Thursday to survey the damage.
"When you have a very coherent, narrow track, where the wind has come together, it has to have gone up, and that's what makes it indicative of a tornado," Kramar said.
Milcarek and Kramar walked around the area and pointed out indicators of a tornado, like a massive tree crews were still clearing from the road the next day. A tree fell on the roof of a house next to St. Peter's Cemetery in Homewood. Wooded areas had downed trees and other damage, with an obvious straight path of destruction.
After storms blew through Western Pennsylvania, thousands were without power. Duquesne Light said Thursday afternoon that it was still working to restore electricity to about 3,000 homes. The company expects to fully restore power by 10 a.m. on Friday, with many getting the lights back on before then.
The tornado and severe thunderstorms came ahead of dropping temperatures and a wintry mix that could leave some places in the Laurel Highlands and ridges with 6 to 12 inches of snow, starting Friday morning. In the Pittsburgh metro area, the low-end estimation brings trace amounts of snow while the high-end scenario could bring 3 inches.
The NWS issued a winter storm warning for parts of Westmoreland, Fayette, Preston and Tucker counties from 1 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Saturday.
