608
Recorded events
3
Direct deaths
9
Direct injuries
$10.1M
Property damage
Thunderstorm Wind in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: 608 recorded events between 1955 and 2026. The strongest on record measured 85. That places the county #58 nationally and #7 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Thunderstorm Wind in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for thunderstorm wind in Lancaster County is the 2010s, when 183 of the county's 608 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Lancaster County archive, thunderstorm wind makes up 61.5% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #58 for this hazard and #7 within Pennsylvania, putting it in the 98.1 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jul is the peak month for thunderstorm wind in Lancaster County with 177 recorded events, while Dec is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 1994 | Pleasant Grove | 0 | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 1, 2025 | CHRISTIANA | 52 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 22, 2023 | NEW PROVIDENCE | 52 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Jul 17, 2019 | NEW HOLLAND | 61 | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| Jul 9, 1997 | CHURCHTOWN | 51 | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| Mar 28, 2021 | WHITE HORSE | 65 | 0 | 1 | $25K |
| Jun 30, 1991 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $0 | |
| Nov 16, 1989 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2026 | KINZERS | 61 | $5K |
| Mar 16, 2026 | FIVEPOINTVILLE | 70 | $50K |
| Mar 16, 2026 | NEW HOLLAND | 70 | $15K |
| Mar 16, 2026 | (LNS)LANCASTER ARPT | 57 | $0 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | (LNS)LANCASTER ARPT | 54 | $0 |
| Nov 6, 2025 | WILSHIRE HILLS | 52 | $25K |
| Sep 5, 2025 | MECHANICS GROVE | 52 | $10K |
| Aug 17, 2025 | OAKRYN | 52 | $3K |
| Aug 17, 2025 | BUCK | 52 | $1K |
| Aug 17, 2025 | MARTICVILLE | 52 | $2K |
Other hazards here
More from Lancaster County
- Hail 192
- Flash Flood 106
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A complex of severe thunderstorms caused tree and property damage in almost every township in the county. County wide damage estimate was around $1 million. The hardest hit areas included Clay, Ephrata, Elizabethtown, Lititz, Manheim, Rapho, Warwick and West Donegal. The severe thunderstorm blew the roofs from four houses, two in Ephrata. Several homes in Lititz suffered structural damage. Barns near Manheim lost their siding. A 100-foot oak tree crushed a home in Warwick Township. More than a dozen major roads were closed by fallen trees. A vehicle was blown 10 feet off the road in Manor Township. Numerous trees were reported uprooted in Quarryville. About 36,000 Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) customers lost power in the county. This represented its largest power outage in five years. This complex of severe thunderstorms left 87,300 PPL customers or seven percent of its 29 county service area in the dark in Eastern Pennsylvania.
Lancaster county emergency management reported trees and wires down across portions of Rapho and East Donegal Townships. ||Multiple downbursts produced straight line wind damage (wind gusts of 60-80mph) to farm buildings and at least two homes just east of Route 772 in Rapho Township.||Two silos on Longenecker and Pinkerton roads were damaged. The domed roof of a silo on Pinkerton Road was ripped off during the storm, while a silo on Longenecker Road lost 20 to 30 feet from its upper half. Several outbuildings were also damaged along with corn fields. ||Also on Pinkerton Road, a tree fell onto the roof of a home, causing exterior and interior damage.||No injuries with the storms. More than 7,000 power outages (largely due to lightning strikes) were reported.
A severe thunderstorm, producing wind gusts estimated near 60 mph, knocked a tree down that fell into the garage of a residence where it landed on the car of the resident southwest of East Petersburg. No injuries were reported.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many thunderstorm wind events are on record in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?
608 thunderstorm wind events are recorded in Lancaster County between 1955 and 2026, causing 3 direct deaths.
What is the strongest thunderstorm wind recorded in Lancaster County?
The strongest thunderstorm wind on record in Lancaster County measured 85.
Where does the thunderstorm wind data for Lancaster County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Thunderstorm Wind in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/thunderstorm-wind/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.