A tornado touched down in Philly area during Thursday's severe storms

Beatrice Forman, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 22, 2026

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PHILADELPHIA — A tornado touched down in Downingtown during a barrage of severe storms Thursday evening, the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday.

The tornado landed in the Chester County borough at 5:40 p.m. Thursday, the weather service said in a statement, as major thunderstorms passed through the area.

The twister was considered an EF-0, which is considered the least destructive on the Enhanced Fujita rating scale. The tornado touched down for less than a minute, according to the weather service, traveling just over a fifth of a mile along Quarry Road near the Quarry Crossings commercial development. Its winds reached speeds of 60 to 70 mph and brought down several tree branches, the weather service said.

Downingtown’s tornado was one of three to land in the region on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. A slightly more intense EF-1 tornado touched down in Dover, Delaware, at 6:09 p.m., while a tornado with an unknown Enhanced Fujita scale rating occurred at 4:41 p.m. in Estell Manor, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, about 19 miles inland from Ocean City.

The tornado in Dover lasted roughly five minutes and traveled just over 3 miles with winds ranging from 100 to 110 mph, the weather service said. After landing in an open field, the twister caused “extensive damage” to the Dover Little League baseball diamonds at Schutte Park, the weather service said: Two scoreboards were crushed or knocked down, and several lighting fixtures were snapped.

Then the tornado struck the Van Sant Generating Station — a power plant owned by the City of Dover located across from Schutte Park — before zigzagging through downtown Dover, where it downed trees. The tornado dissipated at the intersection of Kings Highway and North DuPont Highway after peeling the roof off a motel, the weather service said.

The tornado in Estell Manor lasted approximately 30 seconds or less, according to the weather service, and landed in a wooded area across from the Great Egg Harbor River. There were no reports of associated damage.

Thursday’s storms were the latest in a summer marked by intense wind and rain. The storms arrived in the Philly region just after 5 p.m. and set off a barrage of flash-flood warnings for Philadelphia, the Main Line, and sections of Delaware and New Jersey. Portions of Delaware and Chester Counties were also under tornado warnings.

The downpours led to flash floods that made many streets impassable in the Montgomery County townships of West Norriton and Lower Providence, according to the weather service. And in Chester County, fallen trees cut off sections of heavily trafficked Route 322 in Honey Brook.

The forecast for the rest of the weekend was looking similarly wet.

“Multiple rounds of scattered showers and thunderstorms expected through tomorrow afternoon,” the National Weather Service at Mount Holly wrote Saturday on X, and forecasters “cannot rule out a few strong to severe thunderstorms” for Sunday.