NWS: 2 tornadoes touched down Sunday in Butler County
Two tornadoes touched down Sunday afternoon, June 14, in Butler County, according to a storm survey by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
One tornado touched down on the western portion of the north shore of Moraine State Park and was rated EF1.
The tornado was estimated to have caused peak winds of about 97 mph and followed a path of about 3.21 miles with a 60-yard width, according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service reported the tornado started near Patterson Road, west of West Park Road then moved east, snapping branches and a “few trees near the trunk” along Cornelius Road. The tornado then lifted off briefly before coming back down causing damage on Cornellius Road and lifting the roof of an old barn on West Park Road.
The second tornado, rated EF0, touched down near the intersection of Muddy Creek Drive and Route 8 in Center Township.
The tornado was estimated to have caused peak winds of about 85 mph and followed a path of about .63 miles with a 40-yard width, according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service reported tornado damage appears to have been confined to unoccupied areas where it caused broken tree branches. It lifted off before reaching the intersection of Muddy Creek Drive and Route 8.
An EF1 tornado ranges from maximum wind speeds of 86-110 mph, and an EF0 ranges from 65-85 mph.
The tornadoes were the 29th and 30th in the county since 1880. The most recent ones were on May 21, 2025, when two EF0 tornadoes were documented.
Fred McMullen, who conducted the storm survey, drove through the region around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. He took photos of snapped trees and greenery then plugged them into an app where he marks the location and estimates the diameter of the broken trees to calculate wind speeds later.
The weather service then uses the data to make a map of where the tornado passed through the county.
McMullen focused his search north of Moraine State Park following Cornelius Road in Worth Township before making his way to Muddy Creek Drive and Route 8 in Center and Clay townships.
The tornadoes are two of four recorded in Western Pennsylvania from the weekend. An EF1 tornado with top speeds of 110 mph was recorded in Jefferson County and another tornado was recorded near Beaver Falls in Beaver County. A tornado in Columbiana County, Ohio, was also recorded, according to the National Weather Service.
