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Power Poles Downed by Central PA Severe Thunderstorm

Jul 22, 2010; 1:21 PM ET

UPDATE 7/23: Centre Daily Times quoted my "tornadic" assessment which makes me a little uncomfortable -- that was only based on the storm having a Tornado Warning on it from the National Weather Service which said "RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE STORM CONTAINING THE POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS NEAR KARTHAUS".

In the end, the National Weather Service gives the official word on whether or not it was a tornado - and in this case, they said it was "60-70 mph straight-line winds." As I've said before, straight line winds can do as much damage as a tornado. You can also see video from the power line damage on WJAC's website. I will be providing additional information on this storm later today.

ORIGINAL POST: Yesterday was a heck of a day for severe weather here in State College, Pennsylvania, home of AccuWeather HQ [Google Map]... I chased no fewer than three thunderstorms in Centre County between 4 and 9 PM, one of which had a Tornado Warning. This was the 7:30 storm and is the one I'll concentrate on for now, more information, radars, and photos coming soon for all storms. A map of severe weather reports is shown below. You can read additional reports and see more photos on the Pennsylvania Storm Chasers Facebook Group.

Here is a YouTube video of the storm that I took from I-99 approaching the Shiloh Road exit. This was about 5 minutes after the Tornado Warning was changed to a 70-mph-wind Severe Thunderstorm Warning and about 5 minutes before the storm caused the damage shown below.

Below are two of several photos I took of the power poles downed by the storm at 7:30. Eight power poles were snapped about halfway up, on Route 45, closing the road for 24 hours (news article). Alleghany Power crews told me that the poles broke off at "the attachment" but guessed winds were near 100 mph. There was little tree or crop damage in the immediate vicinity. Official determination of wind speed or tornadic activity may be performed by the National Weather Service, State College office.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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