The National Weather Service in Cleveland has confirmed that a tornado touched down Thursday afternoon at a farm near Cochranton. There were no injuries reported.
A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Cleveland confirmed an EF-0 tornado occurred northeast of Cochranton at 12:40 p.m. in the area Fowler Road and State Route 173, according to information released by the weather service on social media.
“Max winds were 85 mph, with a very short path length of 0.3 miles. Numerous trees were uprooted, two barns were damaged, and a semi was blown over,” the weather service said.
Venango County
Reports of a tornado touchdown in Oakland Township have not been confirmed by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
Jason Frazier, a meteorologist with the weather service, said Friday that his office has heard of a potential tornado touching down in Oakland Township, but has yet to investigate because other sites are taking priority.
“We are currently in contact with the Emergency Management in Venango County,” he said. “We are planning a survey of the area (Saturday) or the next day to determine if there was a tornado or something else that happened.”
At this point, Frazier said, the weather service hasn’t heard reports of other potential tornado touchdowns in Venango County.
According to Venango County 911, reports of a funnel cloud forming along Route 8 in Irwin Township, south of the Pearl and Bullion area, was called in at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
At about 2 p.m., a possible tornado touchdown was reported along Billingsley Road in Oakland Township. Emergency Management investigated and suspect a tornado touched down, 911 said.
Storm damage, including a tree limb that was pushed down and debris along Route 417 in Oakland Township also was called in at about 1:30 p.m., 911 said.
One property in that area, he said, contains “a bunch of pine trees” behind the house and “about half of them” came down. Residents of that home were doing a cleanup of those downed trees.
Several trees also came down across Billingsley Road, Weber said.
The area where the trees that came down across Billingsley Road was “pretty much in a line from where the pine trees came down” and about 500 yards away across a hill, he said.
“Luckily, there was no structural damage and no injuries,” said Weber, who believed the road was closed for a short time while Oakland Township cleared the trees from the road.
Weber said when he had traveled home by way of Billingsley Road at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday the road was clear.
Weber said he was in Meadville when the tornado warning for Crawford County came across, so he and the other people who were with him spent about 45 minutes in a tornado shelter.
