Two EF0 tornadoes touched down in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, just after 5 p.m. on Saturday, giving weekend storms in the area a sharper edge than anyone driving through the township would have seen from the rain alone. The National Weather Service said the first tornado struck along Red Cut Lodge Road and the township border with Latrobe, while the second was confirmed near Rod-Gun Road, Matson Road and Carey Lane at Derry’s border with Ligonier Township.
The damage was enough for Matthew Kramer to put both tornadoes in the weaker range, describing them as roughly 70 mph events based on what crews were seeing on the ground. He also said the service treated them as two distinct tornadoes because the damage did not show one continuous track and the circulations appeared separate. Even if they had been part of the same circulation, Kramer said, there was considerable weakening between them.
That distinction matters because the storms were not just a line of passing weather. The same system also brought large amounts of rain, and flash flooding washed out part of Green Thumb Road and the Laughlin Farm Road Bridge over Story Run. A tornado also touched down in Jefferson County on Saturday, underscoring how widespread the weekend outbreak was across western Pennsylvania.
Cleanup in Derry Township was still underway on Monday, when crews worked to repair roads and clear away remaining debris. The tornado count also added to a season that had already been running high. Chris DeRose asked how many tornadoes the National Weather Service coverage area in Pittsburgh had seen this year, and Kramer said it stood at 19 before Saturday and could end up above 22 or 23 after the weekend storms. He said normal is closer to six.
The open question is how much damage the two tornadoes and the flooding really left behind in Derry Township, because the visible scars were spread across roads, bridges and debris fields rather than one hard-hit block. The weather service also warned residents to stay weather aware, saying Tuesday’s storms could produce more tornadoes. For people still clearing the mess from Saturday, that was not a distant forecast but the next immediate test.
