Tornado in downtown Pittsburgh???

[angelwing]

Just heard this on my break, anyone have a link???

[HarlequinBoy]

It's not in storm reports.

[angelwing]

I'm still looking, they said there are 90,000 people without power right now.

[angelwing]

Just found this, the Mayor declared a state of emergency:

http://www.wpxi.com/index.html

[HarlequinBoy]

I was talking to someone who lives in Pittsburgh and where he works didn't have power for 3 hours.

He didn't mention a tornado though.

[JonathanBelles]

3 strikes! 3 cities. Are we done?

[tomboudreau]

Its an unconfirmed report. Though, there was damage to the Carnegie Science Center, on the north shore, and there is damage to the Hill District. The main problem today was having three seperate severe thunderstorms roll through the region, dumping huge amounts of rainfall. Lots of flooding occured and still is occuring in the northern and eastern part of the county. Communities such as Ross, Shaler, Millvale, Plum, Monroeville, Turtle Creek, etc, have been hit the hardest from the flooding rains. If you go to http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com, you can find photo albums of some of the damage and flooding from today. I think its photo albums 3 through 7. There is also a photo album of the damage done to the sciene center and a photo album of just around Allegheny County.

By looking at the pictures from the science center and the Hill District, I would not be surprised if NWS Pittsburgh does confirm a tornado touched down in these two areas. They will be out tomorrow looking at the damage tomorrow for sure.

[tomboudreau]

According to a report on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's website, there was a tornado that struck in the Sheraden section of Pittsburgh yesterday. This section of the city is located in west end section of the city. The damage done at the Carnegie Science Center and Uptown was caused by a micro burst. Here is the link to the article on the Post Gazette's website. I have not seen a Public Information Statement yet from the weather service. Once I find it, I will also sent that to the forum as well. http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07222/808642-100.stm

[tomboudreau]

Here is the public information from the National Weather Service - Pittsburgh office for the tornado in Pittsburgh. They also have the on two Microburst that took place in there CWA. One of the microbursts took place in the Uptown part of the city and they other took place in Ohio.

Code: Select all

000
NOUS41 KPBZ 110353
PNSPBZ
MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-
020>023-029>032-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-111600-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1153 PM EDT FRI AUG 10 2007

...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...

...MICROBURST HITS COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OH...

ABOUT 120 PM ON AUGUST 9TH, A MICROBURST HIT THE NORTHERN
COLUMBIANA COUNTY TOWN OF SALEM. THE LENGTH OF SPORADIC DAMAGE WAS
ABOUT 5 MILES AND EXTENDED FROM SALEM TO LEETONIA. THE MAXIMUM
WIDTH WAS ABOUT 200 YARDS. ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WINDS WERE ABOUT 85
MPH. THE GREATEST DAMAGE OCCURRED IN THE CITY OF SALEM. THE ROOF
WAS RIPPED OFF A GAS STATION ALONG EAST STATE STREET. ALSO, SOME
MINOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OCCURRED TO THE GIANT EAGLE FOOD STORE.
A TRUCK WAS OVERTURNED AND AN AUTOMOBILE WAS PUSHED ON TOP OF
ANOTHER. NUMEROUS TREES, POWER LINES AND TRANSFORMERS WERE ALSO
KNOCKED DOWN AND SEVERAL SIGNS WERE DAMAGED.

...TORNADO HITS PITTSBURGH...

ABOUT 250 PM ON AUGUST 9TH, AN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN THE WEST
END AREA OF PITTSBURGH. THE DAMAGE PATH AFFECTED AREAS ALONG
TOLEDO, MUNICIPAL, AND GREENWAY STREETS AND BORDERED CHARTIERS
AVE. MANY TREES WERE EITHER SNAPPED OR TOPPLED AND NUMEROUS WIRES
WERE KNOCKED DOWN. THERE WAS SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A FEW HOMES
AND BUILDINGS. THE LENGTH OF THE DAMAGE TRACK WAS ABOUT ONE HALF
MILE. THE WIDTH WAS ABOUT 200 YARDS AND THE MAXIMUM ESTIMATED
WINDS WERE CLOSE TO 85 MPH. THIS ESTIMATED WIND SPEED PUTS THIS
TORNADO AT THE UPPER END OF THE EF0 SCALE. THE ENHANCED FUJITA
SCALE (EF) BEGAN ON FEBRUARY 1ST, 2007. THIS IMPROVED SCALE IS
MORE SPECIFIC AND CONTAINS MANY MORE DAMAGE INDICATORS. IT ALLOWS
FOR MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS AND BETTER CORRELATION BETWEEN DAMAGE
AND WIND SPEED.

ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE
EF-SCALEWINDS (MPH)
EF065-85
EF186-110
EF2111-135
EF3136-165
EF4166-200
EF5>200

THE COUNTY WARNING AREA OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
PITTSBURGH COVERS 15 COUNTIES IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, 11 IN
EAST-CENTRAL OHIO, 9 IN NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA, AND GARRETT
COUNTY, MARYLAND. OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS WE AVERAGED ABOUT 4 TO 5
TORNADOES A YEAR. THIS IS THE SECOND CONFIRMED TORNADO THIS YEAR
IN OUR COUNTY WARNING AREA. THE FIRST OCCURRED ON MAY 1ST IN
MERCER COUNTY, PA.

...MICROBURST HITS UPTOWN SECTION OF PITTSBURGH...

ABOUT 300 PM ON AUGUST 9TH, A MICROBURST HIT THE UPTOWN SECTION OF
PITTSBURGH AND GENERALLY EXTENDED ALONG FIFTH STREET TO NEAR
MOULTRIE STREET. SEVERAL BUILDINGS SUFFERED SOME STRUCTURAL
DAMAGE. THE WALLS OF SEVERAL BUILDINGS EITHER COLLAPSED OR WERE
BLOWN OUT. THE ROOFS WERE TORN OFF SEVERAL BUILDINGS AS WELL.
WINDOWS WERE BROKEN AND SOME SIDING WAS TORN FROM SEVERAL
BUILDINGS. THERE WERE ALSO SEVERAL TREES SNAPPED. THE LENGTH OF THE
MICROBURST WAS ABOUT 700 YARDS AND THE WIDTH ABOUT 400 YARDS. THE
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WINDS WERE ALSO ABOUT 85 MPH.

A DOWNBURST IS A STRONG WIND GUST FROM A THUNDERSTORM ON OR NEAR
THE GROUND. DOWNBURSTS ARE MORE COMMON THAN TORNADOES. A
MICROBURST IS A DOWNBURST THAT PRODUCES A SWATH OF DAMAGE LESS
THAN 2.5 MILES WIDE. A MACROBURST IS A DOWNBURST THAT PRODUCES A
SWATH OF DAMAGE GREATER THAN 2.5 MILES WIDE.

KANE/ALLEN/LOWRIE/GELMAN

[ohiostorm]

I was lucky I wasn't anywhere near the city. Would've loved to get some pics though but the weather was insane. I work at the airport in Pittsburgh. They didn't have the intense weather that downtown had.

[tomboudreau]

I agree. The weather wasnt that bad around the office. We had heavy rain and some lightning, but never had anything that I would consider severe. Got lucky this time. Maybe next time, we wont. Poor people across the northern half of the county go there butts handed to them though.

[ohiostorm]

Was down at the Science Center yesterday and the one side facing the West End was all boarded up as well as a few windows as you go up the ramp the the upper levels.