Microburst with 100+ mph winds confirmed in Poe Valley State Park Sunday evening
A “microburst” occurred in Poe Valley State Park on Sunday evening, the National Weather Service in State College confirmed Monday on Twitter.
A microburst is a “localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm and is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter,” according to the National Weather Service.
The microburst occurred at 7:32 p.m. Sunday, as severe thunderstorms rolled through the area. The estimated peak winds were between 100-110 mph, which is equivalent to an EF1 tornado, the NWS at State College tweeted. The path length was .10 miles and the max width was 120 yards.
Microbursts are not the same as tornadoes, Rachel Gutierrez, meteorologist at NWS State College, said. A tornado has rotating columns of air that also have very strong winds, but microbursts don’t have rotating air.
“That’s just really strong air that moves downward very fast,” Gutierrez said. “But the speeds were strong enough to be considered as strong as an EF1 tornado.”
Microbursts are more common with severe thunderstorms than tornadoes are, but they’re not a very common feature all together, she said.
There were no injuries or deaths reported, but trees were “snapped and uprooted” and there was damage to campsites and vehicles, NWS tweeted. According to Centre County dispatch reports, multiple trees were down on cars and campers.
Gutierrez said many hardwood trees were snapped at the trunk and uprooted, causing damage to campsites and picnic tables.
“Some trees landed on some vehicles and unfortunately damaged the vehicle,” she said. “We did actually have a report of a tree pinning a man’s arm, but he did not have any injuries. He is fine and he was able to get out of that situation.”
With more severe weather on the forecast for Monday and potentially throughout the rest of the week, Gutierrez said if people get a thunderstorm warning or a special alert to take cover and find shelter.
“Being in a campsite is especially dangerous because if trees do happen to fall, you don’t want them falling on you. Getting to a strong, stable structure with doors — not a pavilion — it needs to have four walls, that’s going to be the safest place to be in any sort of thunderstorm,” Gutierrez said.
Representatives at Poe Valley State Park have not yet responded to a request for comment.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 5:47 PM.
